The Dark Triad
by Game777Guy
Summary: The Dark Triad, a mercenary team made of Magnus, Gaol, and Dark Pit, are bent on recieving riches and glory. Then they recieve a high paying mission from a mysterious contractor, and as they move into it, they begin to face difficulties they could never have forseen. Sister to Mystery of the Somewhat Staff. RonnyBravo, author of Somewhat Staff, also has this story.
1. Prologue: The Colloboration

The Dark Triad

Prologue: The Collaboration

Author's notes: This is the prologue to _The Dark Triad_, a story uniting Dark Pit, Magnus, and Gaol into a single mercenary team. 'Nuff said.

The second Underworld War left three of its combatants on their own. Dark Pit parted company with his twin, content to be rivals. One day he'd prove he was the better of them. After the war, he joined Viridi for a bit, as he enjoyed the power to fly, and the goddess was able to grant him that. But he was independent minded. The clashes with Viridi caused him to storm out of her domain.

He left on his own, intending to make a mercenary of himself, considering he couldn't leave Earth without the Power of Flight. He had only his Silver Bow, a mind to make a ton of cash and a desire bring fame to himself. He soon built up a reputation as a tough-as-nails mercenary.

He was contracted for some of the most difficult missions available. He always came back a complete success. His ruthless methods had made him a legend. He quickly amassed a small fortune. Everyone was itching to hire "The Dark Angel."

Another combatant made his own path. Magnus, the man who fought like an angel, had returned to life in his mercenary work. He already owned an impressive reputation. His ability to fight like one of Skyworld's angels had earned him the title of "The Invincible Man." He and his club-sword left quite an impression on the poor souls who got in his way.

Mercenary work had declined after the War, but he was still earning enough to live comfortably. He didn't particularly mind the slow-down. The chaos of the war, and the reminder of his lost child, had considerably dampened his appetite for action and adventure. However, he trained like nuts and remained a formidable opponent.

The last combatant our tale considers is a woman named Gaol. Gaol parted ways with Magnus after they were hired by Dyntos to test the angel Pit. She had moved on from her life as a Dark Lord of the Underworld. She had realized what a mistake she had made in working with the puppet Medusa.

Like Dark Pit and Magnus, she made her living as a mercenary. The skillset she offered was different. The armor she had acquired during her time in the Underworld army was imbued with powerful magic. It allowed her to summon attacks that could bring down an enemy from quite some ways, and she could outfight any man; something she had to constantly prove.

Her reputation as "The Armored Lady" took time to build up. Being a woman didn't earn her a lot of respect. She had to push and shove her way into the limelight. To do so, she would engage missions that were considered by all to be absolute suicide. Her ability to come out on top of these contracts eventually earned her a place of respect.

These three, who only had scarred or non-existent histories between them would be brought together by an event. A young Lord had lost his son to a rogue Reaper. Desperate to rescue him, he brought together the greatest mercenaries and bounty hunters in the realm. He had them compete against each other; with the top three awarded a contract that would pay an enormous amount to each contributor.

Naturally, our three mercenaries were interested in the fat prize at the end of the road. All three joined the competition. There was no match for them. Enemies were incapacitated by the Dark Angel's golden arrows. Broken limbs and ugly injuries met the Invincible Man's unstoppable might. The Armored Lady wouldn't even let anyone close, wiping them all out with her armor's power.

The three came out on top after a competition in which no one was a match. They gleefully accepted the contract and set out. The battle was much fiercer than their competition. The enemies were strong. The rogue Reaper was a true nightmare. But their combined might prevailed. The Reaper fell, and the Lord's son was rescued.

The three then received their reward. Upon seeing such an enormous pile of gold, the three realized that their combined strength would bring greater fortunes than any of them could achieve alone. The formed a mercenary team: The Dark Triad.

A/N I am the real author of this story. I didn't have an account when I began working with RonnyBravo to write this, and he was kind enough to post it for me. Now I have my own account, and can post it myself. I will also post RonnyBravo's half of the story, Mystery of the Somewhat Staff. However, any reviews for Somewhat Staff should be left on RonnyBravo's account, not mine.


	2. A Hard Day's Work

Chapter 1: A Hard Day's Work

Authors' notes: The Dark Triad has been effectively introduced. Now they are shown in the beginning of their journey.

Dark Pit fell to the ground, his Silver Bow landing several feet away. The searing pain in his side told him he'd be feeling that injury for a few days. His head was foggy from his impact. He could barely think. He looked up and saw the blurry image of his two partners fighting the fire monster they had been hired to kill.

He shook off his daze, grabbed his Silver Bow and jumped into the fray. The three of them, Dark Pit, Magnus, and Gaol fought as one. They didn't require much communication, they knew what to do. Dark Pit ducked another fire ball as he charged up his bow. The silver lining began to glow with the gold energy of the arrows it launched. He dodged past another fireball, then forward-dashed while releasing his shot. He hit the beast straight in the head, and then backed off before he could fall into the lava pit the creature had filled to make its home.

The creature became enraged; it seemed that it was sick of taking shots. Magnus was using his massive sword to knock fire balls back at the creature and Gaol was floating around the edge, firing purple bolts into the beast. The monster roared and released a wave of energy. The energy became a lava wave. Magnus and Dark Pit rushed to higher ground, while Gaol floated up a hill on the opposite side.

They fought to meet up with each other. They eventually reunited just outside the lava's burn zone. They looked in each other's eyes, and instantly knew that this had to come to an end. They would have to use the signature move they created when they fought the Reaper.

Dark Pit activated his Power of Flight. He still had some of Pandora's power left in him, and could use it to briefly fly in combat situations; but even Pit would have laughed when he saw its range and duration. He shook that thought off as he ascended to a point 40 feet directly above the creature. He held his bow up as the signal that he was ready.

Gaol immediately backed off and faced the creature. Magnus was closer, and faced Gaol. She then charged up a massive blast of purple energy. She then released the ball at Magnus, who caught it with his sword. The energy caught on the blade, and Magnus immediately turned and hurled the ball at Dark Pit. Dark Pit fired a special attack just as the energy ball hit him, sending it directly down along with a hail of arrows.

The creature didn't stand a chance. The blast hit it, and the arrows forced it to stay down. It collapsed into its pit and released the puff of smoke that was characteristic of monster deaths.

Dark Pit immediately flew to the ground, already feeling his power near its draining point. He could only use his special attack once per flight, as it took up an enormous percentage of his limited power. He hit the ground and walked to his partners.

Gaol's armor was surrounded by purple clouds which soon disappeared. Without the armor, she was a beautiful blond woman in her late twenties. Her outfit was simple: a tunic, pants that were held up by a belt bearing deadly twin daggers, and a cloak that she used to ward off the weather. Magnus strapped his monster sword to his back. He was wearing a tight, form-fitting shirt that had all kinds of things tied to it, including a rather large hunting knife. His shirt was tucked in to a simple pair of black pants, which were in turn tucked into his large boots.

Dark Pit moved his bow to the shoulder strap he had added to his black tunic. It was a fine tunic, with golden embroidery at the edges. He also wore leather gauntlets and shin guards. His feet were covered by simple sandals. He wasn't concerned much about the weather. Being an angel, he was more resistant to extreme temperatures than any human. However, he was neither fire nor freeze proof.

Magnus stretched and sighed, "Well, that was a good exercise."

"Yeah," Gaol replied. It's been a while since we met an enemy that required our signature move."

"Forget the battle," Dark Pit said, still looking at the pit. "We just need to worry about collecting our fee."

As he watched the pit, the lava drained and cooled, leaving a bed of stone. The nearby village would get its safety back, and they would pick up a good reward. The lord had been plagued with that creature for several months, and finally got desperate enough to hire one of the most expensive, and also effective, mercenary teams available to get rid of it.

With that in mind, Dark Pit started heading back to the village. His partners followed pretty quickly. Dark Pit kept to himself. He didn't really have much to do with them outside of their job. Sure, they lived together so that they could easily go to a job, but Dark Pit was a loner. That's why he had left Viridi. He didn't even bother listening to the conversation behind him.

Those two had seemed to be growing closer lately. Dark Pit tried to ignore it as much as he could. He was pretty good at it most of the time. But every now and then he'd catch himself wishing he could have a relationship like that. He would immediately brush off those thoughts as a sign of weakness.

As they walked through the forest to the village, the sky had brightened considerably. The ashes the creature had cast up were dissipating rapidly. If he had been paying attention, Dark Pit would have noticed what a pretty day it was.

The village soon came in sight. It was large for a village, but not large enough to be considered a town. It didn't really have many roads, just well-worn paths. The houses were simple wooden structures, but they were well built. This was due to the fact that the village was on a well-traveled road, and they were able to make enough off the travelers to live comfortably. The lord enjoyed a small fortune.

They walked down the main road, the one that the travelers used, and came up to the lord's mansion. They walked through the gates without a single problem. They approached the main door through the ornate courtyard, complete with marble statues, and were showed in by the guards. The throne room was a large, wooden structure, complete with tapestries, an elevated roof, columns, and a red carpet going from the throne to the door.

They approached the throne. Once they got there, Magnus and Gaol bowed to humor the lord's pride. Dark Pit, as was characteristic, remained standing. He bowed to no one.

"So the job is done, yes?" the lord asked.

"That thing was hardly a match for us," Dark Pit stated proudly.

"Very well, your payment is ready, but you should learn some respect, young angel."

"I bow to no one, as no one is my master."

"We should really be going now that our job's done," Magnus cut in. He may have been independent minded, but he didn't want his partner's pride causing trouble with their employers.

The lord gave them a condescending look, but he had the money brought forward. The bag of gold contained exactly what they were promised. Without further conversation, they picked up their gold, and left.

Outside the mansion, they turned right and went into the forest. They were content to set up camp and move on to their next contract.


	3. The Contract

Chapter 2: The Contract

Dark Pit woke up to the familiar smell of Gaol's cooking. It was kind of a surprise that Gaol could cook, given her history. Even Magnus was surprised by that skill, and he was the one who knew her from the past. Dark Pit figured it was just a skill that she had picked up during her time as a lone mercenary.

Dark Pit got up off the ground. He moved to grab his tunic, as he usually slept in the skin-tight suit he wore under the tunic. He donned the tunic, and then strapped on his bow. By this point breakfast was nearly ready.

Dark Pit moved to take his place in their usual eating-on-the-road set-up. The way they sat was always the same; a simple circle around the fire and Gaol's cooking pot. How she lugged that thing everywhere they went, Dark Pit would never know. He just chalked it up to the fact that Gaol was a crazy tough woman.

Magnus suddenly approached from the direction of the nearby stream. His hair was wet, so that meant he had just taken one of his rare baths. That was good; usually Magnus just had a strange funk around him. It was a nice break to have him smell normal; almost like a breath of fresh air.

"Ah," he said, "So the Dark Angel-Face awakens."

Dark Pit just gave him the evil eye. He was above such things as responding to Magnus's teasing. He didn't talk much anyway, unless he was gloating or moving business along. As time went by, and he got more used to his mercenary life, the chattering he had done when he was created just faded off. However, underneath, he still had the same arrogant personality. There was no making a hero of him.

Magnus proceeded to sit down. Gaol made the last preparations to their meal and announced, "And breakfast is served."

They all got a bowl and plopped the stew in it. The meat in the stew came from a deer they had chanced upon shortly before making camp. There weren't really any spoons, so they had to sip out of the bowls, but they were used to that.

"Mm!" Magnus exclaimed, "excellent as usual Gaol."

Gaol just smiled and began eating her meal. Dark Pit noticed that she had a slight blush from the compliment. She got like that whenever Magnus started acting mushy around her. It was only at times like that that she would show her soft side. Given her usual personality, her soft side almost seemed like a different person.

_I wonder if I'll ever experience that,_ Dark Pit off-handedly thought. _What!? No! I must purge my mind of all weakness. A strong mind is an essential building block to a strong body._ He just sipped his meal in silence, not giving the slightest indication of his inner conflict, a conflict he refused to acknowledge. He decided to drown his thoughts in his food. Magnus wasn't just flattering her, her food really was top-notch, especially for we-just-killed-this-off-the-side-of-the-road food.

They finished their dinner and started packing. Magnus strapped his mega-sword to his back and Gaol cleaned up here cooking supplies. Dark Pit had already strapped his one belonging to his back, so he decided to grab the deer carcass (they had wrapped it up the night before) and strap it over his bow. It was a pretty heavy load, but he was an angel. His muscles were extremely dense, so he was easily as strong as Magnus.

Without waiting around much more, they struck out down the road. They were headed home, as they wanted to enjoy the fruits of this bounty before accepting another mission. Their home was in a major town. Their fortune from the formation of their team had allowed them to purchase a fair size stone mansion, which also doubled as their base of operations.

The sun was setting by the time they arrived at their town. It felt good to be home. They could relax and not have to worry about much. Of course, for Dark Pit, that meant extensive training and target practice.

Their mansion was actually not in the town, but on a hill near its outskirts. They walked up the path and unlocked the front gate. Gaol had to do this, as she had used her armor's magic to place a barrier around the house to protect it from thieves. They saw the blue shield appear and then recede to a point above the house. Without any more waiting, they went through the gate.

Their courtyard was a modest place, for a team so rich. It was basically a large front lawn. The house itself was a two story mansion made of extremely dark stone. It was fairly large, but not overtly so. They figured they didn't need a mansion that was crazy huge. It just needed to be large enough that Dark Pit could easily keep to himself. He was totally fine with that.

The front room was a large, bland place. There was a double-wide staircase on the opposite wall, and there were four doors on each floor. Two were on the opposing wall, and there was one on each side. Dark Pit immediately broke for the door on the left. He kept half of the downstairs to himself. The only public areas there were the kitchen, the dining hall, and the business room.

Dark Pit had no idea what the upstairs even looked like, but he didn't care. He liked the fact that he could stay solitary in a house of three. The room he entered was a massive chamber that took up half of the lower story. It functioned as his all in one area for whatever he wanted. It had an obstacle course, a practice range, a lounge area, and sleeping area all in one. There were no walls, as he liked the easy access the wall-less area allowed.

He didn't particularly care about doing anything right now. He instead took the door to the kitchen. He opened up the freeze area. About a year ago, they had hired a mage to enchant a room with extreme cold so that their food would keep longer. He dumped the deer carcass in it, shut the door, and returned to his chambers.

A few months passed. No work came their way. That was fine. They had enough money to sustain themselves for up to a year. Besides, they needed a break. Constant fighting had been putting a strain on them. Part of the reason they had to rely on their special move was the fact that they were battle weary.

So, they welcomed a chance for a slow-down. Magnus and Gaol's relationship didn't take any further steps. For that, Dark Pit was grateful. Even though he had his own wing of the house, he always managed to sense the mushy in the air. He hated the mushy. It annoyed the crap out of him. Also, on a deep level that not even he was aware of, it created a sense of envy.

However, their world was about to be rocked. It was on a particularly stormy night. They were concluding dinner as they all felt something enter the home.

Magnus was gathering his dishes when his eyes suddenly widened.

"What the-" he started.

"I feel it too!" Gaol exclaimed.

Even Dark Pit was startled by this turn of events. He could feel some source of power emanating from their business room. Without giving a second thought, they dropped their dishes and ran into the business room.

The room was dark, except when flashes of lightning rocked through the window. It was at the first flash that they saw the intruder in their room. Gaol used her armor's magic to light the torches in the room. The place lit up with a warm glow despite the cold set up it used.

The intruder was a person in a hood and cloak, sitting in the chair of their main business desk.

"Well," she said, the voice clearly female, "that didn't take very long."

"Who are you?!" Gaol asked.

"I'd rather you didn't know," the mysterious woman replied. Dark Pit looked at her carefully. He couldn't distinguish anything through that cloak, but this woman clearly commanded an enormous amount of power.

"What do you want here?" Magnus asked, a defensive edge in his voice.

"I have a special contract for you," she said. "The reward is absolutely lucrative. You'd be crazy not to take it."

Dark Pit narrowed his eyes. The woman's voice sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

"What kind of contract are you offering," Dark Pit asked, speaking for the first time in days, "and what kind of job is it?"

"Aw," the woman started, "you sound like you don't trust me."

"I think," Magnus replied, "that I speak for all of us when I say, yeah, we don't trust you."

"Figures," the woman responded. "I mean, a cloaked woman breaks into your home and refuses to give her name. I wouldn't trust me either. But that's not important. This is."

She opened the contract scroll she was holding just a bit. From that bit, they could see the offered reward. It was a grand total of 10,000,000 gold pieces, enough for them to live opulently for 50 years.

Dark Pit's mind was reeling from seeing that price tag. With it, there was no telling what he could do, even if he only got a 1/ 3 share. That was pretty attractive looking. Despite his mistrust of the contractor, he was really eyeballing that price. He could tell his partners were too.

"Ah," the woman resumed, "so you like the way I negotiate. Tell you what, I'll give you 1,000,000 as a down payment if you accept the job."

"That's a large price you're offering," Magnus said. "The job must be difficult."

"Beyond difficult," the woman stated. "Even the famed Dark Triad may perish with the difficulties faced should you accept."

"Stop beating around the bush!" Dark Pit yelled, his patience wearing thin.

"Pushy, aren't you?" the woman said. "Very well, here are the terms. You must find an entrance to the Underworld. This accomplished, you must locate a fortress where souls are still being converted to monsters. Then… you must destroy it. If you live, I'll pay you your 10,000,000 gold pieces."

"Give us minute," Gaol said.

The Triad huddled up. "What do you both think?" Gaol whispered.

"That kind of money's hard to ignore," Magnus stated.

"True enough," Dark Pit joined. "But is it worth the risk?"

After a moment, the three of them looked at each other and they all knew that the answer was yes. They broke the huddle and looked at the woman.

In unison, "We accept."

"Done deal," the woman replied. She then disappeared in a puff of blue flame. On the table was a bag. Magnus went and checked the contents. Sure enough, it was the 1,000,000 down payment they had been promised.

"Well," Magnus began, "It seem that we have unlimited traveling funds.

Dark Pit immediately went to his quarters to prep his weapon. It seemed that things were about to get interesting.


	4. The Disappearence

Chapter 3: The Disappearance

They wasted no time getting packed. Dark Pit put a sack full of useful foodstuffs together. Gaol gathered her cooking supplies and spices. Magnus made sure his weapon was in order and grabbed their other camping supplies. They decided that they would leave the following morning.

Dark Pit jumped out of bed as soon as the morning came. Even he was excited over the mission. He still couldn't get over that huge paycheck at the end of their contract. He still had a large amount of distrust for their employer, but the paycheck made him put his suspicions on the shelf.

He found his tunic and immediately put it on. He found his bow and shoulder strap and slung those over his tunic. He then grabbed the food bag and went to the main hall. He had to wait a minute for Magnus and Gaol to appear, but they showed up soon enough. They opened their door and set out.

Gaol made sure to set the barrier as they left. An enormous pile of gold was sitting in one of the mansion's chambers. All three of them would be very unhappy if that got stolen.

That done, they moved toward the nearest village with a shrine to a wind god. They needed that because the wind gods could tell them where the entrance to the underworld was. They couldn't use the old entrance, as only a god or goddess could get them there. And even if there was a god willing to help, only Dark Pit would be able to go, as he was the only one who could use the power of flight. That was not an option, so the Triad needed to know if there was a second entrance.

They knew of a village that was about a day's travel away. If they could get there, they could go to the temple and offer the wind god some of their traveling funds and grain and hope for an answer to their prayer.

To get there, they struck out on a forest path that led north. The forest path was pretty normal, and they made it about halfway before night fall.

They chose a grove off the side of the road to make camp. It was a good sight. There was a freshwater stream not too far away. Further down, the stream met a river, so they all decided to bathe that night. They wanted to keep funky smells off as long as possible.

As Gaol went to bathe, the awkward was in the air. Dark Pit's don't-approach-me aura was thicker than usual. Magnus tried to break the ice.

"Do you think we'll learn anything from the temple?" he asked.

Dark Pit looked at Magnus. He then decided that it wouldn't hurt to respond to Magnus's inquiry. "Probably, considering what we've decided to offer. Half of our down payment is definitely a lot," he responded.

"Yeah," Magnus said in return. "Maybe it even borders on overkill."

"Trust me," Dark Pit started, "when you want something from the gods, there's no such thing as overkill."

"You're probably right. Still, maybe we should hold back a little."

"No, bad idea. I dislike the gods as much as the next person, but we need them to get this done. Even I, one of the most prideful people alive, understand that getting on the god's bad side at a time like this is unwise."

Magnus went quiet, defeated. Gaol returned shortly after that. Having eaten dinner before their baths, they went straight to sleep. However, Dark Pit felt that something was very off.

Dark Pit shot straight up. Something was very wrong. He could feel it. It was a very dark power emanating from under the earth. It was terrible. It was easily the darkest, most sinister power Dark Pit had ever felt. It was even worse than being around Hades, and that had been bad.

Something terrible was going on. Something world altering. And then, boom. It ended just like that. There was no more dark power in the air. But something still felt off. The world felt… emptier. It was as if something or someone very important had just vanished. Dark Pit had a feeling that a major complication had been shot in their job.


	5. The Village of the Wind Temple

Chapter 4: The Village of the Wind Temple

Dark Pit woke up to the smell of breakfast. He struggled to get up. He had had a hard time falling asleep after the dark power had awoken him. He was still unsettled about that. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that something or someone very important to the Three Realms had gone missing. Or worse: what if it was more than one important something or someone?

Those thoughts were very unsettling. He couldn't remain quiet about it. Shaking off the cobwebs in his head, Dark Pit sat up. He got out of his sleeping bag and walked over to the fire. He didn't even bother putting his tunic on. He only wore the skintight jumpsuit-like outfit he wore under it. He grabbed a plateful of eggs and bacon. There was nothing like fried pig's flesh to put his mind at ease. It didn't stay that way long.

"Guys," he said, earning looks of shock. "Something isn't right."

"What do you mean?" Gaol asked.

"Something happened at around midnight last night."

"Go on," Magnus encouraged.

"I woke up in a cold sweat. I felt something emanating from far below the earth. It likely came from the Underworld."

"What!?" Gaol and Magnus exclaimed.

"It was a dark force. It felt like evil in its strongest form."

"Wait," Gaol said, "I thought that Hades was the strongest evil in existence. And Pit defeated him at the end of the Second Underworld War."

"That's what I thought too," Dark Pit replied. "But what I felt last night was worse than anything I felt when I was around Hades. But there's more than just the force. When it left, it felt like it had taken something with it. Something or someone very important in the world."

"What are you getting at?" Magnus asked, dreading where this was going.

"I've thought about this a lot. But, whatever disappeared may have been very important to our mission," Dark Pit concluded.

Gaol's eyes went wide. Clearly, she had just realized something.

"Last night was the night of the new moon, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, it was," Magnus answered.

"Well," Gaol continued, "that's when evil forces and magic is strongest. And if what you said is correct, Dark Pit, and this force is more powerful than Hades… What if?... What if?... What if the gods themselves had disappeared?"

Everyone's eyes went wide at that one. The gods themselves disappearing? Dark Pit thought that it was very likely. The gods were crazy important to the world. Without them, well… it would certainly explain the emptiness Dark Pit had felt. If all this was true, then these were dark times indeed.

It was a very unsettling situation. If the gods had disappeared, then their quest just got that much more difficult. Suddenly, Dark Pit wasn't so excited about the paycheck. Their spirits thus dampened, they packed up and headed out.

The trip went off without a hitch. It was kind of surprising; such a dark power would surely have awoken monsters. But maybe, there was a delayed response. Oh well, it wouldn't be peaceful for long. The monsters surely would come.

When they were a few hours from the village, they saw a truly strange sight. An object fell from the sky toward their destination. Dark Pit felt something in him. He remembered Viridi mentioning something about a "super-secret-twin-thing." Though he didn't like the terminology, there was certainly a connection between him and Pit. He was certain that his twin had fallen to Earth just now.

Dark Pit let loose an evil smile. Here was a chance to take out his archrival. Here was a chance to prove that he was the better Pit. Without even a warning, he took off running. Gaol and Magnus shared a confused look, but followed.

It still took them several hours to reach the village. When they got there, they were shocked to see them recovering from some sort of attack. Dark Pit didn't see any corpses, but he knew something had gone very wrong.

He stopped a random villager. "What happened here?"

The man looked at Dark Pit with annoyance. "We were attacked."

"By what?" Dark Pit asked sharply.

"We don't know. It looked like a bunch of slimes with a single eye in the forehead. If not for that angel, we would have had four more to deal with."

Dark Pits eyes widened. "Where did the angel go!?" he snapped.

"Um, you don't mean him harm, do you?"

"Let's just say we have unfinished business." He dropped the food pack and grabbed his Silver Bow menacingly.

"S-s-sure, I'll tell you where he went. He went northwest to the temple. A young girl was following him."

Dark Pit let go of his Silver Bow. He shouldered his food pack and was getting ready to head out when Magnus and Gaol appeared.

"Come on," Dark Pit ordered. "He's at the temple; we're following." He then took off northwest towards the temple. Magnus and Gaol ran to catch up.

"Who's at the temple?" Gaol asked.

"I think you know who I'm referring to."

Dark Pit could tell Gaol had realized who he was talking about. "Do you mean… Pit?" she asked.

Dark Pit simply nodded. Nothing got him as worked up as a chance at engaging Pit. He relished a chance to prove that he was superior. This time, he would surely do the job. His Silver Bow was the strongest it had ever been. It was full 12 star rank weapon. He could engage almost anything and win. Besides, Magnus and Gaol weren't slouches. Their weapons, in their hands, were at least as strong as the Silver Bow in Dark Pit's hands.

They traveled for about a quarter of an hour and came upon the temple. It was a large temple in a valley, surrounded by sheer cliffs. They came in through one of the only entrances to the valley. They walked up to the temple. Dark Pit could tell from the design that it was dedicated to the Western Wind goddess.

All three of them went in. There a few alters. On some of these alters were grain offerings. They didn't look burnt, but heat scorched. _The West Wind must be one of the scorching winds,_ Dark Pit thought. He noticed a statue at the far end. It was heavily eroded, but he could still tell that it was dedicated to a goddess.

He then looked at the floor. It was riddled with cracks and holes. In the holes were a bunch of vines that were quickly rotting. Someone that could control plants had had a fight here. But, that didn't make any sense. Viridi was the only one with control of plants, and she had likely disappeared with the other gods. Dark Pit was certain their assumption was right, as none of the gods had answered the queries that he had made secretly. If that was true, then what happened in the place? _Demigod?_

"Hey," Magnus called, "get a load of this."

Dark Pit came to where he was. Magnus was staring at the wreckage of a pillar. The ceiling above was caved in. Dark Pit looked closely.

"This temple seems ruined," Gaol observed.

From his close view, Dark Pit saw some things. To be sure, he got up and looked around. Sure enough, he saw what he was looking for.

"What are you looking for?" Magnus asked him.

"This wreckage isn't ancient ruins," he announced. "This happened very recently." He held up his right index finger. On it was soot from a scorch mark he had examined. "Only one category of weapons leaves this kind of scorch mark."

"An angelic weapon?" Gaol asked.

"The villager was right, he was here," Dark Pit concluded. Without further comment, he stormed out of the temple. He had to find Pit as soon as possible. He had to kill him to prove that he was the best. Unbeknownst to him, there was a deeper, darker force at work than rivalry.

He ran out into the forest. He was headed northeast towards Vagrant city, a city known for, well, vagrants. Dark Pit saw evidence of a battle as he went. Scorch marks were everywhere. Someone had been a little trigger happy. Then he saw pink flashes not far ahead.

He dropped his food sack and took off as fast as he could run. He burst into a clearing and saw Pit standing there holding a Somewhat staff. There was a blond girl talking to him.

Dark Pit heard Pit saying, "We are? By whom?"

Dark Pit wasted no time in drawing a golden arrow and taking the shot. Pit was thrown 10 feet back by the impact and his staff was knocked out of his hand. Dark Pit started walking towards his rival.

Pit got up, his somewhat staff returned to his hand. _How the heck did his weapon do that? _ Dark Pit thought, not letting his surprise show on his face. Pit got up and stared at him angrily.

"Let's show this jerk for doing that!" the staff yelled in a rage. "Nobody gets me thrown to the ground!"

Dark Pit heard his partners approaching from behind. He watched as recognition and shock registered on the white angel's face. "Magnus… Gaol… Pittoo... what are you doing here?"


	6. Pit's Mysterious Somewhat Staff

Chapter 5: Pit and the Mysterious Somewhat Staff

"Well, well, if it isn't my archrival," Dark Pit said. "And by the way, the name's Dark Pit. I seriously do _not _want to be called Pittoo again." As he was saying this, Dark Pit's expression turned into an evil glare.

"Who's the girl?" Dark Pit asked. And then, without waiting for a response, he said, "Doesn't matter, I don't care."

Dark Pit saw the girl whispering to Pit. Pit whispered something back. They seemed to be talking about him behind his back. He was just able to catch the last words.

"Not Ptooey, either. He really hates that one."

Dark Pit gave Pit his coldest, most evil stare. In a low, harsh tone he said, "What did you just call me?"

"Get back," Pit said to the girl. "He's ready to blow his head off." The girl obeyed Pit's order. Pit raised the Somewhat Staff to shoot. Dark Pit raised his bow in defense. It looked like a standoff.

"Ha," Dark Pit started, "do you seriously think that you can take all three of us?" Magnus and Gaol both took a battle ready stance as Dark Pit said this. Pit jumped back; he seemed scared to fight them all at once.

"Blundering fools," Pit's staff said, sending a shockwave through the Dark Triad. "We have an important mission that we're on right now, and you guys are just getting in the way."

Dark Pit's expression changed from angry to arrogant. "Well, so are we, and we don't need you morons getting in the way."

"You can just shut your mouth," the staff snapped. "Our mission is 10,000 times more important than yours could ever be. Fate has chosen this angel and myself to go on a journey, to save the gods who have been kidnapped by an unknown force. So get out of the way _NOW_!"

Dark Pit's face only grew smugger. Inside, however, he was thinking that his suspicions were confirmed. He then looked Pit dead in the eye, and said, "Heh, old news and a pitiful excuse."

Pit and the girl recoiled in shock. Clearly they did not expect Dark Pit to have any knowledge of the gods' disappearance.

"How the heck do you know that!?" the staff exclaimed.

Dark Pit just continued his evil smile and ducked his head while saying, "I have my methods."

Dark Pit didn't wait for a response. He just forward dashed while firing a fully charged shot. Pit grabbed the girl and ducked the shot. Dark Pit, however, was already charging in for a killing blow. He had already broken his bow into its twin-swords mode. He was ready for a melee engagement. Pit raised the staff as Dark Pit closed in. When they met, Dark Pit's melee bow hit the staff's iron defense. They exchanged furious blows for a few minutes. Neither party could land a hit. Dark Pit was a little surprised. Pit was wielding the staff to far greater effect than should have been possible. He figured it had something to do with the staff's power and the fact that it was alive.

Dark Pit jumped back and then charged forward. He raised his weapons and swung. Pit met his swing with an effective block and they stood there, grinding their weapons against each other, hoping to come out on top. Dark Pit put an extra surge of strength into his push. He felt an equal push from Pit, and they both jumped backwards and glared at each other.

Magnus and Gaol both came up to Dark Pit. Clearly, they were there to reinforce him.

"Hey," Pit yelled, "that's not fair! I can't fight all three of you!"

"You're not entirely alone," Gaol jumped in. "You have that girl with you. Based on what we saw at the temple, I'm assuming that that's the demigod who ripped up the floor."

Dark Pit wasn't surprised. Gaol was very intelligent. It figured that she would have made the same guess as Dark Pit.

"Demigod?!" the girl cried, "What are you talking about?"

"Ah," Magnus said. "So it appears that she doesn't know her own heritage."

"So, Magnus and Gaol," Pit started, clearly trying to redirect the conversation, "why are you with Dark Pit?"

"Simple, really," Magnus responded. "It's a matter of money."

"Mercenary work?"

"None of your business," Gaol interrupted.

"I'm just saying," Pit started to respond, "Pittoo is independent minded and-"

Pit didn't have time to finish that statement. Dark Pit had closed the gap in the blink of an eye and punched Pit square on the chin. Dark Pit had forgotten how satisfying punching Pit was. Dark Pit watched in satisfaction as Pit was thrown back from the extreme force of his punch. As Pit was picking his pathetic form off the ground, his eyes widened. He must have seen the purple glow that was still in Dark Pit's wings.

"H-h-how can you still fly?" Pit asked bewildered. "I thought your Power of Flight died with Pandora."

Dark Pit just smirked in response. Then, "I've still got a little left over. It may not be much, but it's more than what you've got right now."

Pit didn't waste any more time on conversation. He took his weapon and shot a fully charged blast at Dark Pit. Magnus, however, jumped in the way and deflected the shot with his sword. The bolt hit the ground and exploded, causing everyone to jump back.

Dark Pit wasted no time gawking. He jumped up, using a small boost from his Power of Flight, and shot a nasty charged bolt at Pit. However, the bolt never reached its destination. A large vine had inexplicably placed itself in the way of the shot. Dark Pit landed and looked at the girl, whom he was now certain was the demigod.

Gaol stepped forward and said, "The girl's mine." Gaol immediately floated to the demigod's position. Without wasting a second, Gaol struck out with a massive energy blast. Dark Pit soon lost track of how that fight went.

Dark Pit and Magnus attacked Pit before he could come to the aid of the demigod. Pit was forced to fend off vicious melee strikes from two different directions. Dark Pit fired a series of normal bolts while Pit expertly dodged. Magnus struck hard and fast, surprising, considering the size of his weapon. Pit didn't take the attacks sitting down. While it was true that he was on the defensive, he would take the opportunity to attack whenever he got it.

Dark Pit could tell that Pit's stamina was wearing thin. It wouldn't be long before a serious blow could be landed. Magnus landed that blow a few moments later. His mega-sword sent the poor angel flying 15 feet back. Dark Pit quickly followed with a charged arrow to where Pit had landed.

Dark Pit felt that the fight was getting old. He looked over to see how Gaol was doing and saw that she had knocked the demigod out cold. They all looked at each other and knew that it was time to finish what they had started. Dark Pit and Magnus went to Gaol's side and they assumed formation for their signature move.

Gaol backed up furthest away from Pit and the demigod, who had been kicked over to Pit's side. Magnus was next in the line as he prepared to receive the massive bolt that Gaol was already charging. Dark Pit flew about 45 feet above Pit and raised his bow in the ready signal. Gaol released the shot, which Magnus then redirected towards Dark Pit. Dark Pit then fired his special attack as the bolt hit him. The monster blast was then sent towards Pit along with a hail of arrows.

Dark Pit watched in a combination of surprise and horror as his bolt was reflected back at him. He just caught a glimpse of Pit's weapon, which was glowing bright pink and seemed to be much longer. He also saw the arrows from his attack gunning down Magnus and Gaol. That was all he had time to observe before he raised his bow and shoved one end toward the oncoming bolt in an effort to defend himself. The bolt struck and the golden energy of his weapon caused some of the bolt to pass entirely around him.

Then, the unthinkable happened. Time slowed down in Dark Pit's mind. He watched helplessly as the blade that was in the blast began to crack. Before long, the blade snapped completely. Dark Pit watched in slow motion as the pieces that broke off flew past his head. And with that the golden energy that was protecting him dissipated and he knew no more.


	7. The New Dark Pit

Chapter 6: The New Dark Pit

Dark Pit's rise to consciousness was slow. His body was in the most intense pain he had ever felt in his life. He didn't dare open his eyes. His mind flashed back to when his bow had shattered. He still couldn't believe that he had lost it. He had had that bow since his first full-on battle with Pit. It was his signature weapon.

He finally opened his eyes. He was looking at a ramshackle roof. The thing looked dumpy, but it was stable. He turned over to his left side. On the nightstand next to him, he saw a pile of black rags and his broken bow. He looked at the weapon with deep sadness. He couldn't bear to see it in such a sad state. One blade was perfectly fine. It still had a sharp edge, and probably had a little leftover power. Then there was the other end. The hilt and first five inches of the blade were fine, but that was it. The other two pieces of the broken blade were just lying there, reminding him of his failure.

He shifted his attention to the rags near his bow. His tunic was a magic, self-repairing tunic. However, there was no way that kind of damage could be repaired. His tunic was lost to him. He'd have to find a new outfit in the town. That didn't concern him too much; Dark Triad's travel funds were almost unlimited. 1,000,000 gold could get you anywhere in the known world and still have quite a bit to spare.

He sat up and examined his surroundings. He was in a hospital. He could tell because of the smells of sickness and death in the air. The building looked like it was cheaply put together, but it was pretty clean. He was in a large rectangular room. He couldn't see much due to the curtain around his bed, but the ceiling told him about the size of the room.

He heard large, heavy footsteps followed by lighter ones. Not two seconds later, the curtain at the foot of his bed was thrown aside and Magnus and Gaol stepped in.

"Feeling okay?" Gaol asked.

"I'll live," Dark Pit replied.

He read Gaol's expression. It seemed that she had figured out the source of his more-than-usual pessimistic attitude. She and Magnus knew just how important the bow was to him. Without it, he only had a fraction of his power.

"Well," Magnus started, "since you're alive, you should get packed up. You need to go get a new outfit at the market. Then we need to continue our mission."

Dark Pit nodded his head in acknowledgement. He got out of his bed and picked up the part of his bow that was still good. He could use it as a one-handed sword. It wasn't much, but it would do until he could acquire a real weapon. Of course, without the gods, the chances of that were slim.

"Gaol," he said.

"Yes?" she replied.

"I need to use your cloak."

"Of course."

She took it off and handed it to him. It didn't feel right, but at least he didn't feel like he was in his pajamas. He found the strap he used to hold his bow. It was still intact, so he quickly modified it to hold his "altered" weapon.

He then slipped it over his shoulder and headed out. He was glad to leave that sad excuse for a hospital behind. He stepped out into a busy street. People were in a hurry to get wherever it was they were going. Dark Pit arbitrarily pulled one of the citizens over and asked where the nearest market was. He was told to turn right from where he was standing, and follow the road to the main square.

Dark Pit immediately started walking. Magnus and Gaol trailed close behind. It took him all of five minutes to reach the market. It was only mid-afternoon, so all the shops were still pretty busy. Dark Pit found the nearest one that sold traveling clothes. He walked up and got the shopkeeper's attention.

"I need a new set of traveling clothes," Dark Pit began. "Price is no concern."

The man looked at him for a minute and then said, "If you're interested, I might have a new item you might try."

The man went into his wagon for a minute and came back with a piece of clothing that Dark Pit had never seen before.

"I made this myself," the man began. "It will eventually make traveling cloaks like the one you're wearing obsolete. It's called a coat."

Gaol seemed a little offended at the cloak bit. After all, it was her cloak that he was wearing. Dark Pit paid Gaol no more mind as he looked over the strange cloth. It was a black color. The upper half had sleeves like a longer shirt, and the bottom half was long. If he was wearing it, it would go down to his shins. From the waist up, there were small, nearly invisible ties that he could use to bring the two separate sides together. Overall, it was an interesting piece of clothing. He liked it a lot.

"I'll take it," he said.

The man's eyes lit up. "Really?! Great! It will cost you 50 gold pieces."

Dark Pit plopped the money on the stand. While he was there, he also purchased a black shirt, pants, and boots to complete the outfit. He didn't bother getting a belt, as he had been able to salvage the one from his tunic. That belt was important, as the buckle was the part that gave his tunic the ability to self-repair. With it, his new outfit would eventually acquire the self-repair ability as well.

While he had been making the purchases, Magnus and Gaol had left to top off their food supply. Dark Pit found them, and they headed to the north entrance of the city. Dark Pit had been listening to the chatter, and had gathered that Pit had left through that gate.

Outside the town, Dark Pit changed into his new outfit. He liked the darker tone of his outfit better than his old tunic. He also liked how the long, flowing "coat" looked on him. He felt a bit more unique. The only modification he had to make was that he needed to cut holes for his wings. This of course didn't take long.

With that out of the way, there was one more thing that needed to be resolved. It had been bugging him for some time now.

"How did we end up at that hospital?" he asked, not really caring who answered.

"You sure you want to know that, angel-face?" Magnus asked.

Dark Pit gave him the evil eye. His evil eye said, "Don't call me that," and, "Yes I want to know the answer to my question." Magnus stepped back a few paces. The aura of annoyance surrounding Dark Pit was getting ready to turn into an aura of anger.

Magnus held up his hands in a gesture of peace, then said, "Pit had us put on a caravan and taken to the hospital."

Dark Pit looked like a volcano about to explode. "Run that by me one more time, I dare you." His voice was quiet, but loaded with menace.

"Sadly," Gaol started, "it's true."

Dark Pit nearly blew a gasket. Never had he been so angry in his life. Not only had his archenemy humiliated them by turning their strongest attack against them, but now Dark Pit owed him for saving his life. He hated owing Pit for _anything._ The last time he had owed Pit something, he had lost most of his Power of Flight.

Without yelling, Dark Pit said, "That angel's a dead man walking." The way he sounded, it probably would have been better if he had yelled.

"We're following them," Dark Pit ordered as he took off on what he guessed was their trail.

"Wait," Magnus said. "We have a mission to complete. We can't just go off chasing Pit because you have a grudge."

Dark Pit turned around. His face was that of someone who embodied pure evil. The hatred in his eyes was fearful to behold. "Pit's searching for the gods. We're searching for the entrance to the Underworld. Eventually, Pit may find that his quest leads him to the Underworld. If we follow him, we'll figure out the key to our own mission, and I'll finally get to kill him."

With that said, he turned and started walking. Seeing that nothing they could say could deter him, Magnus and Gaol followed. There was no way that they could win the argument. They headed into the forest that was to the north of the town.

As they entered, Dark Pit could feel eyes watching him. He didn't care; he needed someone to take out his rage on. Right on cue, a group of bandits dropped out of the trees. The bandits looked pretty basic. The only thing that seemed unusual about them was the fact that the leader's sword emanated a strange power.

The leader was a tall, strong looking man. His face was ugly. It was loaded with scars and wrinkles. His thinning white hair wasn't very appealing either.

"Give us everything of value, and you all leave alive," he said in a raspy voice that perfectly matched his face.

Dark Pit just laughed. "Stay back," he said to Magnus and Gaol. "They're all mine."

"Ha," one of the bandits spit. "Surely you don't believe that a boy like you could take us all by yourself."

Dark Pit's expression darkened. "You're all just digging your own graves." He didn't wait for a reply. He charged the nearest man and ran him through with his bow-that-was-now-a-sword. Oddly, the one-handed balance felt nice in his hand.

The bandits were now on alert. All except the leader had drawn their swords. Dark Pit just charged the next guy. The bandit didn't stand a chance. He tried to parry Dark Pit, but he left himself open and lobbed the guy's head off. They all charged him. Dark Pit danced around their blades. He slashed, hacked and killed.

Before long, there was a ring of dead or dying bandits around him. He looked up at the leader. The man backed up, truly in shock.

"A-a-are you a demon?!" he asked, quaking in his boots. Dark Pit just let loose an evil smile. The man hardened his expression and drew his sword. "You can't defeat me," he said. "Not as long as I hold this blade."

That said, the winds in the area started flying towards the blade. Soon, there was a mini-twister around the man. Dark Pit eyed the sword suspiciously. He noticed the mark of the four wind gods on it. That was a truly powerful blade; a blade that would suit him better than any bandit.

Dark Pit charged in and engaged the man. Though the bandit was a truly incompetent sword-fighter, the tornado kept Dark Pit from doing any damage. He thought for a second. He then reengaged the man. They clashed swords in a furious duel. Then Dark Pit pulled a fast one. By twisting his weapon a certain way, he knocked the wind sword out of the man's hands. Before the bandit could even utter a word of shock, his head was on the ground next to his body.

Dark Pit felt much better. Most of his rage was gone. He didn't even notice Magnus and Gaol looking at him in absolute horror. He just went and picked up the sword. He could feel its power over winds in his hands.

_This weapon will suit me well_, he thought. As he moved to drop his bow, he noticed a spark of energy between the two. Curious, he held them close together. The bow absorbed the sword completely and lit up gold. When the light faded, the broken end had become a pointed knife. Dark Pit could feel the wind sword's power combining with the angelic power in his bow.

He now understood what he would do. He would repair his weapon by absorbing the powers of other weapons. When he was done, there would be no weapon stronger than the one he would wield.


	8. Soul Searching

Chapter 7: Soul Searching

Author's notes: So far this story's been about Dark Pit. However, I think that I've ignored Gaol and Magnus long enough. Considering this, the following chapter, and maybe a few after, will be told from Magnus's point of view.

Magnus stood at their camp. They had decided to stop at the eastern edge of the forest. Magnus was deeply disturbed by the events of the day. He had known Dark Pit for a long time and he had never seen him massacre a group of people like that. Dark Pit may have been a mercenary with questionable methods, he and Gaol were the same in that respect, but he wasn't a murderer. Seeing Pit had done something to him.

Magnus looked at his partner as he sat down. Dark Pit still had that rage and hatred boiling beneath his hard exterior. Magnus couldn't dwell on it for long though, as the smell of Gaol's wonderful cooking wafted past his nose. He turned to see that she was preparing the last of the steak they had brought with them. The steak hadn't lasted long due to the fact that meat didn't keep very well.

He looked at Gaol. It was kind of surprising what had gone on between him and that woman. During the Second Underworld War, he had fought her with a vengeance. Her choice to join the Underworld had been unforgivable to him. And yet, when they were asked to test Pit, they had fought side by side as if they had been doing it their whole lives. Granted, they had their rear ends handed to them on a silver platter that day, but it was the first step in creating their bond.

He looked at her with all the love in his soul. Normally, he was a stone cold mercenary, just after money. But around her, he felt safe. He felt that he could show his soft side. He had noticed the same thing from her. She had been harder than he was when Dark Triad had formed. But as they came closer together, her barriers had come down, and she had showed herself to be a sweet woman.

Gaol looked up from her cooking. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," Magnus responded. "I was just thinking how wonderful a woman you are."

A wonderful smile lit up Gaol's face. "Thank you," she replied.

They both then looked at Dark Pit, who was standing just out of earshot, looking aimlessly at the sky.

"I'm concerned for him," Gaol stated.

"I agree," Magnus replied. "Seeing Pit has done something to him. He's not the angel he used to be."

"Yeah. It scares me just to be around him right now. It feels like he could turn any second."

Magnus went deep into thought. "What are you thinking?" Gaol asked him.

"Do you think that there's something he's not telling us?"

"It's possible," Gaol stated. "But let's not worry too much about him. Let's just focus on us."

Magnus smiled as he looked into Gaol's eyes. Gosh he loved her. She had been one of the few bright spots throughout the Dark Pit mess. As they looked into each other's eyes, everything else just seemed to melt away.

Reality could be harsh sometimes. As they were enjoying the moment, a strange smell wafted by. Gaol and Magnus were confused for a minute. Then Gaol's eyes widened.

"The steak!" she cried. She rushed to her cooking pan. She quickly added spices and flipped the steaks. Soon, dinner was ready to serve.

"I hope you like your steak well-done," she told Magnus jokingly.

Magnus just smiled and took the joke. He looked over at Dark Pit. "Hey!" he called. "Food's ready! Get it now or you'll starve." Dark Pit stared into space a little longer, and then turned around and returned to the camp.

As Dark Pit sat down an awkward silence drifted through the air. No one said anything. Magnus looked at Dark Pit closely as he was eating his food. Dark Pit always had a good poker face, but Magnus could usually read him. Of course, now his face was so blank, Magnus couldn't read anything. That angel's head was a true mystery.

Magnus decided to try and get some answers. "So, what happened with the bandits?" he asked.

"You saw what I did, why ask about it?" came the reply.

"That's not what I meant," Magnus countered.

Dark Pit looked up at him, clearly annoyed. "I needed to vent."

"Why?" Magnus asked. "Why would you need to vent? How could seeing Pit have affected you so much?"

"It's none of your concern," Dark Pit said, clearly expecting the conversation to end. However, it seemed that Gaol wasn't satisfied with his answers.

"It is our concern!" she said in a raised voice. "We are a team. What goes on with one of us affects us all!"

Dark Pit's eyes went dark. The angry aura around him expanded explosively.

"I'm only going to say this one more time," he stated darkly. "It's… none… of… your… concern."

With that, he went back to eating. Magnus and Gaol shared a look of desperation. Something was very wrong. Pit had done something that had very much affected Dark Pit. There was no way a simple sibling rivalry could have caused the hatred that Dark Pit was giving off. He needed to find out what went on. And knowing Pit, they wouldn't be able to learn anything from him. It wasn't because Pit wouldn't be straight with him. It was because of the fact that if Pit had known he had wronged Dark Pit, he would have tried to make it right. That, of course, meant that the only person who could answer this puzzle was Dark Pit. And he had just made it _very_ clear that he wouldn't talk about it.

The whole thing disturbed him. He couldn't understand what was happening. He did, however, know that he wouldn't be getting much sleep that night. He was afraid of what the future held.


	9. A New Direction

Chapter 8: A New Direction

Magnus woke up bright and early, as usual. The sun was just peeking over the eastern horizon. He looked at his two partners. Gaol was sleeping peacefully. Dark Pit, however, was a different story. He was tossing and turning, letting out creepy moans. He seemed to be stuck in a nightmare. His expression was contorted. He seemed to be in a lot of pain.

Magnus was about to wake Dark Pit up out of mercy when he heard Dark Pit's voice mumble, "Lilia, no… I hate him."

That sent Magnus's mind for a spin. Who the heck was this Lilia person? Magnus was clueless. He'd have to ask at the first good opportunity. As to who "him" was, well, Magnus had a pretty good guess. Dark Pit's actions over the past two days made that one very easy to figure out. Magnus decided to waste no more time pondering his friend's mind. He had better things to do.

He picked up his sword, strapped it on, and headed into the forest. He was in search of meat. Their supply had run out the night before, and he definitely wasn't into preserved and salted food. Magnus moved into the forest.

He became one with the forest. He was silent as a wraith. His father had taught him to move silently when he was still very young. Even despite his size and the size of his sword, he could be but a whisper if he so wished. He studied the ground as he traveled, looking for signs of nearby large game.

It took some time, but he found deer tracks that were very new. He was lucky. Most hunts like that would take much longer. He studied the tracks to discern which direction they were headed. That done, he moved down the trail, maintaining his silence.

He soon found a small clump of trees. In it was a full grown buck. _Mmm, _Magnus thought,_ good eating._ He stole silently into the glade. He would have to be lightning fast, or he would lose it. He went into a mode of pure instinct. He charged the deer, keeping his footing as light as possible. Before the deer could bolt, he used the end of his massive club to smash the deer's legs out from under it. He then jumped onto its back, unsheathed the knife strapped to his chest, and slit the deer's throat.

He then flopped the carcass over his shoulder and headed back to camp. The sun was a little ways over the horizon when he arrived. Dark Pit was already awake and brooding. Gaol was just waking up.

Magnus dumped the carcass on the ground and said, "Here's breakfast." Gaol turned her tired eyes to the deer. She suddenly lit up. She knew as well as he did that a chance like this didn't come too often. Even grumpy Angel-Face seemed impressed.

It took them several hours to get everything done, but the venison was well worth it.

"Ah," Magnus sighed as he sat back. "That stuff hits the spot."

"You did good," Gaol told him. He let a little smirk cross his face. The sun felt so good. It was nice to be relaxed for a change.

"So," Gaol started. "What now?"

"Easy," Dark Pit stated. "We follow Pit."

"No," Magnus countered. Dark Pit gave him an evil glare. "Seeing Pit has done something to you. You're not yourself. It would be safest if we put some distance between us and them."

"You're not the leader here."

"Neither are you," Magnus countered. He sighed. "Look, we work as a team, which means that we make decisions as a team."

Dark Pit's expression darkened. "Look," he said, "Pit's seeking the gods. The force that took them is based in the underworld. Our paths are bound to cross again. If we follow them, we'll find our path."

Magnus had no comeback to that one. Unless, "And your hatred of Pit has nothing to do with this."

Dark Pit glared at him. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing," Magnus stated. "You're using our mission as an excuse to get revenge." Magnus looked Pit hard in the eye. "What happened between you two? Does it have something to do with a woman named Lilia?"

Now Dark Pit looked genuinely confused. "Where did you pull that name from?"

Now it was Manus's turn to be surprised. How could that name mean nothing to him if he had mumbled it in his sleep? "Are you serious?" Magnus questioned. "The name means nothing to you?"

"Should it?" Dark Pit responded. His response was genuine. He wasn't hiding anything. But, if that was true, why was he so defensive the day before? All the questions were boggling his mind. The situation was so confusing.

"Should it?!" Dark Pit asked more forcefully.

"You mumbled it in your sleep. Along with the words, 'I hate him.'"

Dark Pit recoiled. He held his head as if he had a headache. Magnus wondered what he was thinking. This was another one of those times that he couldn't understand his partner.

"Let's just forget about it," Gaol said, finally joining the conversation. "We have other matters to attend to."

Now Magnus remembered what had brought them to that point in their conversation in the first place; their next direction. That was another argument just waiting to happen. Fortunately, Magnus didn't have to have that argument at all.

A strong wind ripped through their camp, almost restoring fire to their smoking embers. The plants and trees started reacting, turning greener and moving in ways that certainly wasn't caused by the wind.

All three of them looked around. A very strong power was causing this. Someone with a very strong power over nature. There was only one person Magnus could think of that could cause something like this: The nature goddess, Viridi.

"Follow the wind of the blade," they heard. The voice was muffled, and sounded awfully weak. "Hurry, I can't talk much longer. Don't follow hatred. Follow the wind." And with that, the wind was gone. Everything had returned to normal in an instant. Magnus almost doubted what had just happened. But having seen enough godly stuff, it was enough to convince him that it wasn't an illusion.

"The wind of the blade?" Gaol asked, echoing Magnus's thoughts. The light suddenly turned on in Magnus's mind. The blade that Dark Pit had absorbed into his bow had intense wind powers. Maybe it could serve to guide them.

"Draw your sword," Magnus said to Dark Pit.

Dark Pit didn't argue. He drew the bow-turned-sword off his back. Wind suddenly whipped around the blade. The blade first pointed northeast. Without warning, it jerked Dark Pit's hand. It was now pointed in a more easterly direction. Specifically, right under the rising sun.


	10. Traveling

Chapter 9: Traveling

Magnus decided not to press the mysterious Dark Pit issue as they broke camp. There was enough tension over that. After Magnus had revealed that the Lilia name tied in with Dark Pit's hatred, Dark Pit remained stubbornly silent.

Dark Pit walked ahead, carrying the salted deer meat. He needed some time alone, and Magnus recognized this. Besides, Dark Pit had their guide-sword. It made sense to put him in front. To be honest, he wasn't thrilled with the idea of heading east with no idea of how far they were going. There weren't many villages in that area, and the villages that were there wouldn't have much to spare. Still, it could be worse.

_No! _he thought. _Don't think like that. Whenever people think like that, things get worse._ He most certainly didn't want things to get worse, so he redirected his thoughts to the landscape. It was rather dull. Just rolling hills with yellow grass. Yeah, it was pretty at first, but it got really boring really fast.

He looked at Gaol. He just couldn't get over how much he loved that woman. Even now, after a year of being with her, it still surprised him. He could barely remember the time when they had been enemies. He took a moment to think about what had drawn him to her in the first place.

The fact that she wasn't a typical woman was definitely a draw-in. She was tough and assertive. She always spoke her mind. Yet, she also displayed a grace and gentleness underneath her hard exterior. Her cooking was just one of the surprises in that area. They also worked together very well. Yeah, he could function as team with Dark Pit, but he felt like he and Gaol fought as one person.

_Come to think of it_, he thought,_ she and I haven't had much opportunity to fight lately._ Dark Pit had been the center of their most recent fights. He wasn't acting as a member of team. He was acting as an independent.

_Ah, there I go again,_ he thought. _ I really need to get my mind off that guy._

They sat down for lunch in one of the dips between hills. They made a simple fire and cooked up some of the deer meat. They didn't speak, as the silence was rather comforting. Slowly, the tension began to dissipate. For that Magnus was greatful.

It was in the mid-afternoon when something interesting finally did happen. They were still heading straight east, when Gaol heard something.

"Stop," she said. "Hear that?"

Magnus listened. "Yeah. It sounds like…" his eyes widened, "HORSES!"

Sure enough, there was a column of them galloping at them from the north. They bore men who were masked. They each carried a cavalier's sword on them. They looked like bandits. _Great,_ Magnus thought. _A delay._

The thieves came up around them and surrounded them. Their leader rode out of the formation. The only distinguishing feature about him was that he was taller and thinner than the others.

"Place your weapons on the ground and give us all of your valuables," he ordered.

"Just back off now," Magnus began, "and we'll leave you in peace."

The man let laughed sharply. "I don't think you understand your position. There are 20 of us and three of you. Even that angel of yours couldn't stop all of us."

Magnus smiled when he heard what Gaol said. "So bring about 5 times the number of men you have, and it'll be a fair fight."

"Spoils have no right to speak as you do," the man responded.

Magnus smiled inwardly. The man had just made Gaol _very_ angry. She wouldn't hold anything but a death blow back at this point. The Dark Triad went back to back, drawing weapons. "As a team," Magnus said.

As the thieves jumped back in surprise, most likely due to Gaol donning her armor, the Dark Triad broke formation. Magnus went after the leader, who had pulled a staff out of nowhere. Gaol charged and released a massive energy beam, breaking the enemy's formation, as well as many bones.

Magnus dueled the leader. The guy was on horseback and wielding a staff, so he had reach. Magnus dodged around his attacks, looking for an opportunity to knock the horse off its feet. The leader clearly had guessed Magnus's plan and kept his horse frustratingly out of reach.

Magnus could hear a few thieves closing in behind him. He back-flipped, knocking one of the men off his horse as he went. He landed and moved his sword. A bolt from Gaol deflected off it and hit the guy he was aiming for. For the last one, he rode on a cushion of air that Dark Pit provided and slamming into the ground, taking the horse's head with it.

The leader of the thieves backed up in astonishment. He was shocked that three people had taken his entire crew out so easily. He turned to bolt, but Dark Triad would have none of it. Dark Pit shot an air cushion at him, sending him high into the sky. Gaol shot at him, and Magnus deflected the bolt in such a way that it came down and smashed into the ground, causing the last man's horse to rear. The man himself gracelessly fell off the horse.

They walked up and surrounded him. His surprised eyes looked up at the three of them.

"M-m-m-mercy!" he cried.

"Sure," Magnus said, a touch of deviousness in his voice. "But first, give us everything valuable that you have on you."

The man looked at them with wide eyes, but complied. He stood up and unloaded every jewel, coin and trinket he had on him. When he placed his staff on the ground, it shrank into nothing more than a small stick.

"That's everything," he said. "Now let me go."

"Get lost," Dark Pit said. The man predictably ran for it. Magnus noticed Dark Pit eyeing the staff.

"A power like that may be useful," Magnus said.

Dark Pit nodded. He moved to pick up the staff. He moved his Silver Sword, that's what they had agreed to call it, toward the staff. The two fused flawlessly. The knife end of the Silver Sword grew a centimeter or two, but the real gain came when Dark Pit used the power of the staff. The blades shrank away into the handle of the sword.

"Well," Dark Pit said, "that makes it easy to carry."

Without further delay, they left. As they walked, Magnus reflected on that battle. They had effortlessly worked as a team. Even with Dark Pit's new weapon power, they had been able to predict and capitalize on each other's moves. That was the team they were supposed to be. Magnus hoped it was a sign that pointed to their growing closer as a team.

They walked until the sun had nearly set. That's when they saw it. A large temple straight in their path. The way Dark Pit's sword reacted when he pointed to it confirmed what they had suspected. They had reached the place the sword was trying to show them.


	11. The Oracle

Chapter 10: The Oracle

The temple was definitely built to honor Palutena. There was no doubt about it. Magnus wondered why Viridi would advise them to follow the Silver Sword to this place. Well, it didn't matter too much. On a quest like theirs, they couldn't afford to ignore the advice of the gods; especially if said gods had disappeared from the face of the Earth (or Skyworld, as the case may be).

They walked up to the temple's massive doors. The place was in amazing condition considering the fact that it was so far away from everything. Magnus wondered why he had never heard of this particular temple before. Maybe it was because the temple held a valuable secret.

Before they could even knock on the door, it swung inwards to reveal an old, bent woman. She seemed to be about 80 years old, but she carried herself like a young woman.

"Well," she said, her voice not all that unpleasant, "don't just stand at my doorstep gawking at me, come in."

The Dark Triad shared a look, but silently agreed to go in. The main area was massive. There was some form of altar on the other end, sitting beneath an enormous statue of Palutena. The old woman rushed to a door on the opposite wall. It was in the left corner. She scampered through it without even pausing. Dark Triad just followed her through.

"Ahem," Magnus called, as they entered a small dining chamber. "Don't you think it's a little dangerous to let total strangers into your…uh…home?"

They heard her voice coming from a nearby kitchen. "You three? Strangers? Hardly. I've been expecting you for several days now. People with quests like yours come my way very often."

Magnus, Gaol, and Dark Pit nervously sat at the table in the middle of the room. The old woman scampered in carrying a large pot of stew. How such a small, old woman could carry such a load, Magnus would never know. The woman set it on the table, grabbed a bowl, and served herself.

"Well don't stand on ceremony," she said. "Dig in."

The three of them nervously grabbed bowls and filled them with the stew. They ate in an awkward silence. The woman looked at Magnus as if he had done something to annoy her.

"Well, Magnus," she said, startling everyone, "don't hold back your questions. You are here to ask questions, right?"

Magnus nervously said, "Uh, right. Um, who are you? And how do you know so much?"

"One question at a time. As to your first question, I'm the Oracle. My real name is not important. That and I've forgotten it." Magnus heard her say that last part just under her breath. He chuckled a little bit under his breath. "As for your second question, well, I know so much because I'm the Oracle."

"How is it that I've never heard of you?" Gaol chimed in.

"The gods don't like it when one who can give away their secrets is well known by the people. The only reason I exist is to help those who are on quests of the gods."

"So, you knew we were coming," Magnus stated, more a fact than a question.

"Of course! I can see things far and wide. I can't control it very well, and that makes it kind of annoying, but it's well worth it."

"So, you're going to help us?" Gaol asked.

"Yes," the Oracle replied. "But first, you must eat and rest. You have been traveling for several days, and I'm sure you haven't entirely recovered from you battles."

The Oracle didn't let another word in. She would just insist that they finish eating. So they did. The stew actually was very good. It was actually good enough to put Gaol's cooking to shame. But Magnus would never say that out loud. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of Gaol's wrath. If there's one thing he'd learned about her, it's this: never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER diss Gaol's cooking. His head reeled from the very memory of it.

After dinner, the Oracle took them through the kitchen to the bedchamber. Magnus was worried about the sleeping arrangements, but the Oracle said she was used to sleeping outside, so them taking the bedroom wasn't an inconvenience.

As she was about to leave, she stopped. She turned and looked at them. "I can give you this one piece of advice before going to bed." Everyone stopped to look at her. She looked straight into Dark Pit's eyes. "You must abandon all hatred, or it will destroy your team and your quest."

Dark Pit just scoffed and continued preparing for bed. Magnus wasn't very happy either. With the Oracle bringing that bit of information up, he would probably be up all night thinking.

* * *

Magnus woke up refreshed. Despite his worries from the previous night, he had actually been able to sleep pretty well. The atmosphere in the temple was just… calming. Dark Pit looked the complete opposite. He had dark circles under his eyes and acted like he was half dead. Apparently, what the Oracle had said got to him.

Gaol woke up not long after Magnus. The two men vacated the room while Gaol dressed. Once she was done, they entered the room and dressed as well. That done, they headed to the dining room. As they passed through the kitchen, they noticed that Oracle was already frying eggs and bacon.

As soon as they had taken their seats in the dining room, the Oracle came out with breakfast in hand. Everyone ate up, glad to have a meal made of fresh ingredients. Once they were done, they all headed to the temple's main area.

They sat down around a fire pit in the middle.

"I've kept you all waiting long enough," the Oracle said. "I have been given the ability to see the paths of the gods, and the paths of those who tread them. It is the ability Palutena gave me 150 years ago. Though I may be confined to the temple and surrounding grounds, my sight was well worth the price. It is because of this price that I can help you now."

"What can you show us?" Dark Pit said, speaking for the first time since they had come to the temple.

"Even I can't predict that. I can only show you what the gods wish you to know. And that will be limited, given their disappearance. But I do know that what I will show you will aid your quest."

With that, the woman closed her eyes and seemed focused. When she spoke, her voice was radiating with power. "An angel is on the path to find the gods. A demigod shall soon join him. This demigod is connected to the keys to the Earthly entrance to the underworld. In a great cave far north of here, you shall find this demigod."

She opened their eyes. Magnus looked at Dark Pit nervously. Dark Pit had a dark grin on his face.

"Well," he said, "looks like I'm gonna get to kill him after all."

The Oracle looked firmly at him. "The sooner you let go, the easier your path becomes."

Dark Pit seemed not to have heard.


	12. Key to Progress and Conflict

Chapter 11: Key to Progress and Conflict

They stayed another night at the temple. The next day they set out. The plains were dreary, and nothing of importance happened. No thieves, no weapon fusions, no nothing. The only notable thing that happened that day was that the northern mountains came into view as they set up camp.

After they had received the prophecy, Gaol had told them about an enormous cave far to the north. That had to be the cave they were headed to. "Great cave" couldn't mean anything but the cave to the north. The only thing they didn't know was what was there and who the mysterious demigod that joined Pit would be.

As they doused the fire, they set aside such worries. As the saying goes, they'd cross that bridge when they got there.

They set out again the next day. As the hours passed, the mountains grew closer. However, their progress seemed agonizingly slow. The sun was reaching the point of late afternoon when they started up the mountain that housed the cave.

Magnus found the slope to be very frustrating, especially when they had to start finding their way through and over mazes of rock. They'd enter mini-canyons, have to climb sets of boulders, and scale walls with very little grip. There was one point where Dark Pit had to fully expend his Power of Flight to airlift his partners over it.

When the sun was nearly touching the horizon, they entered the cave. They had scaled three quarters up the mountain. Luckily, it was at the edge of the range, and not the largest.

Magnus looked at the cave entrance. He was truly astounded by its size. He guessed that the entrance was about 50 feet tall, and 75 wide. It went so deep into the mountain that Magnus couldn't see the far end. _Yep, this is definitely the place,_ Magnus thought. This more than qualified as a great cave.

Dark Pit said he had decided to make camp a little ways in. He wanted to surprise Pit. He walked to a point where there was a small dugout area invisible to the entrance. There he sat.

"I'm going to wait for him," Dark Pit said. "I don't care what you guys do."

Magnus was worried once again by Dark Pit. Dark Pit's hatred, awoken by his contact with Pit, had grown out of control. Dark Pit would certainly fight with way more tenacity than usual. In fact, Magnus was sure that Dark Pit would fight as brutally as he could. Magnus once again wondered about the source of this hatred. Dark Pit's actions suggested one plausible possibility. What if it was a repressed memory? What if he had repressed the memory in order to ease whatever he felt, and seeing Pit was bringing his strong feelings out?

It made sense. Dark Pit's gaps, and the night Magnus had overheard him, had pointed to something like this. He decided once again to not worry about it until it became relevant. Instead, since Gaol had set up camp and was cooking dinner, he decided to explore the cave. He wanted to see if he could find what was drawing Pit here.

"I'm gonna explore this place," he said. "I'll be back before dinner."

"You'd better be," Gaol said back.

Dark Pit sat propped up against a rock, relaxing. He made no comment. With that, Magnus headed deeper into the cave. He had gone about two minutes from the camp when he noticed an odd purple glow coming from a crack. It was extremely subtle. If he wasn't gifted with sharp eyes, he might have easily missed it.

He explored the crevice, and found a lever in the rock. He pulled it, and the crevice widened, allowing him to step into a small room. In the center of this room, there was a crystal releasing the purple glow, clearly visible with the crevice fully opened. Magnus walked to the stalagmite that the crystal was attached to. It took some wiggling, but he was able to break it free.

Once he had it in his hand, he looked at it very closely. His eyes widened at what he saw. Carved on either side was the symbol of the underworld. In the very center of the crystal was a roman numeral V. That numeral was made purely of purple light. He had found a key to the Underworld!

He hurried back to the camp. He held out what he had found.

"This is what's drawing Pit here," he stated.

Gaol looked at him, confused. "What is it?"

"This," Magnus replied, "is a key to the underworld."

Dark Pit leaped from his sedentary position and seized the crystal from Magnus's hand. As he looked it over, a truly evil smile crossed his face.

"Well, here's the bait."

And on that note, they ate dinner and went to sleep. Tomorrow would be a day to remember.


	13. Second Conflict

Chapter 12: Second Conflict

Author's note: Dark Pit takes over the story once again. As this chapter is a cross between the sister stories, the dialogue will be identical in both. Only the thoughts and points of view differ.

Dark Pit awoke especially early. He was eager to prepare for the coming conflict. He woke Magnus and Gaol. He knew that they weren't going to like his plan. But he told them anyway. They weren't happy, as predicted, but they reluctantly agreed.

_This time,_ Dark Pit thought, _he's going to die. I will sever our link and be free of him._ A part of him, one that he was completely unaware of, even as he thought it, said, _She will be avenged._

He went pretty deep into the cave. The other two followed. They entered a massive room full of crystals. _Perfect._ He activated his Power of Flight, and planted the underworld key in an alcove at the top of the room. _Bait's set, now to lure in the mice._

He, Magnus, and Gaol hid near the entrance to the room. He would wait patiently for his enemy to appear. And then, victory would be assured. They had to wait for quite a while. It was well into the afternoon when they finally heard footsteps.

"This is where the light leads me," he heard. Dark Pit let loose a malicious grin from his hiding spot. Pit and his crew walked into the cave, not taking any notice of them. The crew included two new people, probably demigods. Now he had to figure out which was the one he was after.

"Here," said the demigod from the last conflict. "It's just a room full of crystals!"

"I don't know Vinnia," Pit said in response. Pit shuddered. "I feel something nearby." Realization donned on the angel's face. "Dark Pit," he whispered.

Dark Pit's grin grew more evil. _That's my cue. The mice have taken the bait._ He moved out of his hiding spot, making his steps far louder than they needed to be. Pit and his crew turned to look at him, surprise in their faces.

"Oh no… not this guy again…" Vinnia, the name Pit had mentioned earlier, groaned.

"Hi there. What brings you here?" Dark Pit said with mock curiosity.

"I led them," said a young woman, stepping forward. She had brown hair and eyes. If Dark Pit had an eye for beauty at that moment, he would have notice how beautiful she was. She was wearing a cream colored dress. Twin knives were belted to her waist and a bow was strapped to her back, along with a quiver of arrows. She also wore a necklace with a cobalt gem.

Dark Pit wasn't thinking about any of that. He was thinking,_ If she led them, then she's the one we want._ Magnus and Gaol chose this moment to step out. They stood behind him. As per the plan, they stayed quiet and backed off.

"Wait a minute," Pit said, "Don't you need laurels so that you don't get a severe headache from strong weapons?"

"Not at all," Dark Pit replied. "You may need them, but I, being the better one, have no need of such crude protection." The statement was intended as an insult, and seemed to be received as such. The statement, however, was only half true: the two powerful weapons were bothering him, a lot, but he wasn't getting a severe headache.

"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Pit, "You're the same exact person as me! We're practically twins!"

Dark Pit's smile only widened. "My time on Earth has developed me. If you think we're equal, then prove it. I challenge you to a duel!"

Pit seemed to gain some confidence. _Good,_ Dark Pit thought. _Because he doesn't know of my new power, he'll be careless._

"I accept that challenge," said Pit, drawing his staff.

_Time for the overly dramatic unveiling of my Silver Sword,_ Dark Pit thought. Pit's surprise at this turn of events would surely throw him off balance and tilt the battle in Dark Pit's favor. With this in mind, he took a few steps back. He then reached into his coat and withdrew the handle of his weapon. He then used the weapon's power to summon a wind around the handle, and then he threw his arm down and back, summoning the blade and a gust of wind that blew his coat back dramatically.

Pit jumped back, face reading extreme shock. "No way…" said Pit. "That weapon broke! I'm sure of it!"

Dark Pit donned the smuggest look he could muster. "You know," he started, "I should actually thank you for breaking it. Because you did, it now has the potential to become the most powerful weapon in existence." To show off this point, he summoned a small cyclone around him.

"The wind sword…" Pit said, at a loss for breath. "You took it from the bandit… and…"

"Ah, so you met that guy too. He had no business wielding such a powerful weapon. In his hands, the power was wasted. In my hands, the power's fully realized."

Pit raised his staff, clearly wary of Dark Pit's new power. Dark Pit narrowed his eyes. "En guard," he said quietly. Then, he charged. Dark Pit's focus was entirely on Pit now. Nothing else mattered. He swung his weapon at Pit, who countered with a swing of his own. Dark Pit jumped back, and charged in with a furious volley of strikes.

Dark Pit's confidence was growing. Dark Pit didn't even have to use his wind power, and Pit was already faltering. He increased the ferocity of his blows. Dark Pit pushed his enemy to a large crystal. He started a chain of blows that would have ended in Pit's decapitation. However, Pit jumped the final shot, and miraculously kept his head. Pit then bounced off the crystal and landed behind Dark Pit.

Dark Pit had already turned to face where Pit was coming from. Pit leveled his staff preparing to take a shot. Dark Pit summoned a defensive cyclone and waited for Pit to fire. The shot bounced harmlessly into the wall behind him. Dark Pit then charged at Pit, who had backed into a corner to snipe. Dark Pit would be ready to unleash another volley of attacks, but he would refrain from using the decapitate sequence. He wanted to make sure that when he did use it, it worked.

His blows jammed Pit into the wall with no escape. He kept up his furious attacks. Dark Pit now knew that the fight was in his hands. It would take a miracle to rescue Pit. Said miracle occurred when an arrow flew past his face. His pause was enough to let Pit loose. Dark Pit looked venomously at the woman who fired the shot.

Dark Pit shot a gust of wind at Pit, which incapacitated the white angel long enough for Dark Pit to turn his attention to the woman with the bow. Using wind to give him unnatural speed, he had his Silver Sword placed at the woman's leg before she could notch another arrow.

"I'd kill you, but I need you alive. So if you interfere again, you'll never walk again," he warned harshly. The woman seemed to get the idea. She dropped her bow and backed up to the other two spectators. That done he turned to Pit, who was releasing a charged shot. As he finished his turn, the shot was fired. He surrounded his blade with wind, and knocked the blast into a ground-based crater offhandedly.

He took this opportunity to charge through the smoking crater the shot had left and prepared to attack Pit furiously. The slippery angel dodged the strike and Dark Pit took a number of steps forward to compensate for his speed. He turned as Pit smacked headlong into a wall. Dark Pit took advantage of Pit's dazed state to charge again. Once he was in striking distance, he jumped, preparing to shove the blade into the ground through Pit.

The angel rolled again, and Dark Pit missed by inches. The sword was driven a few inches into the rock by sheer force. _Darn!_ Dark Pit thought. _If that had hit, it'd been over!_ He yanked his sword out of the ground and once again turned to face his enemy. All the stops were out now. Either him or Pit was going to die. He charged with everything he had in him. He summoned the wind to his blade to add speed and force to his attacks.

He began slashing at Pit madly. Dark Pit, mad as was, made sure to avoid carelessness in his strikes. He didn't want to be the one bleeding out on the ground.

Pit suddenly yelled, "Alright staff! Do your stuff!"

"With pleasure!" the weapon replied.

Pit's weapon took on a pink glow, and it looked as if it was extended to three times its length. Dark Pit smiled inwardly. To be using that attack, Pit must have been desperate. However, the attack was formidable, and Dark Pit's attack was knocked aside. He pressed the attack, using the wind to increase the speed and force of each strike.

"Is it because..." the light angel gasped, "I already used so much energy in the fight?"

Dark Pit didn't know what that meant, but he charged in anyway. Using a secret technique that Pit had never seen, he attacked in such a way that when Pit tried to block, the staff was knocked free. It hit the wall, bounced off it, and slid 20 feet across the cave floor. Dark Pit then kicked Pit in the back, sending him to the center of the room.

Dark Pit casually walked up to Pit, who was now on his hands and knees. Before Pit could fully regain his senses, Dark Pit placed his sword menacingly near Pit's neck. The staff, exhibiting its ability to move under its own power, flew back towards Pit, trying to get into its master's hand. Dark Pit effortlessly intercepted and poked the tip at Pit's side.

"Unhand me you fiend!" the staff yelled from Dark Pit's hand. Dark Pit only tightened his grip.

"You've lost," Dark Pit said matter-of-factly. "I could easily kill you here and now." His point was made clear and the staff shut up. He moved his sword closer to Pit's neck. "However, you have something I want. Or, rather, someone. If you hand over the girl with the bow, you can keep your pathetic life."

Pit hesitated for quite some time. "Well?" Dark Pit asked.

"I…I…I…can't…"

Dark Pit was getting frustrated now. "Hmmm?" he said as he touched his sword to Pit's neck, causing a drop of blood to drip down.

Pit screamed in panic. Dark Pit was extremely satisfied. He now knew that he had utterly and completely won.

"Mercy! Uncle! You can have her! Just don't take my life!" he yelled in a combination of misery, defeat and panic.

Dark Pit just grinned. "Terms accepted." He removed the sword from Pit's neck and dropped the staff. He then proceeded to kick Pit in the head as hard as he could. The angel was out cold. He wouldn't be waking up for some time.

"Magnus," Dark Pit barked. Magnus jumped out of the shock he had been in. "Grab the girl."

Magnus was too shocked to do anything but follow the order. He walked over and slung the girl, who had fainted on Magnus's approach, over his shoulder. As Magnus left the cave, Gaol, in full armor, proceeded to pick up the girl's dropped bow and snap it. She then dumped the pieces and turned to leave.

As she left, Dark Pit looked sternly at the other two. "If you follow us, your heads will roll." As he was leaving, he used his wind sword to knock the Underworld key from the alcove he had placed it in. He picked it up and left.


	14. Fracture

Chapter 13: Fracture

Author's note: RonnyBravo has made it known to me that one reviewer has criticized our characterizations of the two Pits. This is fair, as we have altered the characters some. If you'll stick with us, we'll explain why we feel that these changes are warranted.

Dark Triad put as much distance between themselves and the cave as possible. Even though Dark Pit's threat was genuine, they weren't taking any chances. They went as far east of the mountains as possible. After that, they didn't know what had happened.

When they found a hollow sheltered by a ring of rocks, they made camp. The moon was well up, and the sun was long gone. They gathered firewood and prepared camp. Dark Pit removed his supplies and started making his bed. The others were doing the same. Gaol then moved to cook dinner.

Their prisoner chose this moment to return to consciousness. To have fainted for that long, she must have been truly shocked. She had been disarmed and tied hand and foot, so they weren't worried about her making trouble. The wake up was heralded by a lot of moaning. The girl had been propped up on a tree, and as she looked around, there was confusion in her eyes. Then it clicked. She started to silently panic.

Gaol walked up to her and said, "Don't worry, if you don't make trouble, we'll treat you well."

"How do I know that?" the girl asked defiantly. "I wouldn't trust kidnappers. And your methods were despicable." She suddenly shut up and seemed to turn inwards. Dark Pit couldn't even begin to guess what she was thinking.

Magnus joined the conversation. "Look, girlie, we don't want to hurt you. But we need your skills."

"I won't assist my captors," she shot back. There was fire in her brown eyes.

Dark Pit chose to end the debate here. "If you like being trussed like a pig and fed like an infant, than do whatever you want."

That shut her up. Her expression still read defiance, but at least she had decided it would be better not to talk. The last thing Dark Pit needed was squawking cargo. That would have been annoying. Defiant silence was far better than defiant words.

Dinner was quiet and awkward. It seemed to Dark Pit that Magnus and Gaol were distancing themselves from him. He wondered what could have caused that. His mind was so colored with hatred and vengeance, that he didn't realize that his conduct in the last battle was a major factor in their distance.

They all went to bed shortly after dinner. Gaol made sure to lay the girl down and give her a blanket before bed. A dead prisoner, or one tortured past functionality, was no good to them. So they'd instead use dignity to break her. In the long run, it'd probably be way more effective than any physical torture they could come up with. Especially since she had carried herself like a noble in the cave.

* * *

Dark Pit woke first. He got up, slipped his shirt, pants, and coat on, and moved to a ridge where he could watch the sun rise. Since he had become a mercenary, the rising sun had given him a sense of calm. When he developed that, he didn't know. But it was there none the less.

Magnus and Gaol got up within minutes of each other. As they prepped breakfast, the tension in the air was all-pervasive. It went straight though breakfast. No one talked. At all. It was kind of scary to be in the middle of. Dark Pit didn't like it.

They then packed up their stuff and continued moving east. Magnus slung the girl over his shoulder as on the day before. She was a little defiant about it, but she shut up when she realized arguing was pointless. On the way, the terrible tension grew and grew and grew. Dark Pit was quickly fed up with it.

"What is going on, you two?!" he asked, a bit more forcefully than necessary.

Gaol and Magnus turned around to look at him. They now seemed to be steaming under the surface. The shared a look, then Magnus took a deep breath.

"You," he stated.

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"What the heck could possibly be wrong with me?"

Gaol entered. "Since the first battle with Pit, you haven't been yourself."

Dark Pit was a little mad at the accusation. "You're talking crazy. I'm fine."

"No you're not," Magnus said. "You're letting hatred consume you."

"I am not," he lied through his teeth.

Magnus's face grew very stern. "You are, very much so. You're losing sight of the mission. We're supposed to be saving souls from being monsters, not chasing an angel you have a grudge against!" As he said it, his tone increased to almost a shout.

Gaol also seemed very stern. "You need to refocus. You've been putting too much emphasis on fighting Pit and not enough on how to get to the Underworld."

"Pit's mission may take him there. Crossing paths is inevitable," Dark Pit countered.

"But the fighting isn't; you injected that into the mission at the first opportunity!"

"He deserves it," came the reply.

Now Magnus seemed angry. "What did he do to you that was so terrible!? Your rivalry doesn't make your actions necessary!"

Now Dark Pit drew a blank. He didn't really know what caused his hatred. The whole area was a vague blank spot in his memory. The only reason he knew it was there was because seeing Pit caused an enormous amount of pain to well up from that blank spot.

"You don't need to know my thoughts," he finally said.

Magnus's expression went to outrage and then fiery resolution. "Fine; if you want to follow your path, be my guest. But I don't have to put up with this. I'm leaving!" he started walking off. Then, "You captured her, keep her." With that, he dumped the girl on the ground.

Gaol said nothing, but her expression clearly read that she was in full agreement with Magnus. With that argument, they stormed off south. Dark Pit was now left with a physical dilemma. How would he carry his supplies and the girl? It wasn't that he wasn't strong enough, but his body wasn't as big as Magnus's. His supplies took up some space, and fitting the girl in would be…awkward.

So, rather than puzzling the space issue out, he tried to sort out his thoughts. He looked to the blank spot that his hatred ebbed from. He couldn't find anything there. Literally, nothing. It felt as if the whole thing had been totally removed from his head. Then a face flashed before his mind's eye. It was a beautiful woman's face. She had bright blue eyes and short, odd blue hair. He almost doubled over from the emotional turmoil that came from the face.

When he had recovered, he ventured to wonder what had just happened. That face, it had hurt so much. Yet, it clearly fell into place with the blank spot. He couldn't figure out why a face he had never seen before would pop up in the blank spot. And why would it hurt so much? Slowly, the answer donned on him. What if he had been so hurt by the memory, that he repressed it? That girl and Pit were somehow connected, and their mixing had created the monstrosity of emotion in his heart. Beyond that, he couldn't know.


	15. UmmAwkward Anyone?

Chapter 14: Um…Awkward Anyone?

Author's note: Somebody's sure to bring this up, so I'm gonna say this now. Why would Magnus leave the girl (her name's Aria, by the way. Mystery of the Somewhat Staff contains this) behind if she was needed for the mission? The reason is that Magnus and Gaol don't need to be reminded about Dark Pit's violent personality shift. Keeping her would only be a reminder of that fight. And now, the chapter.

Dark Pit sat there thinking. He didn't know what to do. He didn't even bother to move the girl from her resting place on the ground. She was giving him the evil eye, but saying nothing. Well, he might as well try.

He walked over to her and lifted her up. She yelped because he picked her up so quickly and easily. He decided to drape her around his neck like an animal skin. She may have had a good womanly weight, but she wasn't light. She didn't like the position much either.

"What do you think you're doing with me?!" she demanded.

"Can't trust you. Don't want to give you the chance to escape," Dark Pit answered.

She huffed, but was quiet after that. Dark Pit walked for quite some time. He didn't know how far he was going to go, but it wouldn't be as much as he wanted to go. He wanted to get as far away from that cave as he could.

He was infuriated that Magnus and Gaol would leave. They had worked together for three years. Countless missions were shared between them. They may not have been that close personally, but you'd think that that kind of work would make ties of loyalty. He was very mad that those ties were so easily broken. Why on earth would his methods bug them? They were mercenaries, and questionable methods were their MO.

He decided not to dwell on it. In leaving him with the girl, they'd also rejected their mission. Dark Pit was totally fine with that, he didn't need their tense baggage. He could do things on his own. He didn't need those slow-downs for nothing. A small part of him knew that this wasn't true, but he didn't acknowledge that part.

As the sun neared the horizon, he started looking for a place to camp. He found a ring of trees not too far up the nearest mountain. He went to it and dumped the fuming girl on the ground.

"Ruffian," she said under her breath.

"You haven't seen anything," Dark Pit shot.

He went out and gathered supplies for a fire. It had been a while since he'd done it, but he knew what to look for. He brought back a rather hefty pile of wood. He opened his pack and took out a flint lighter. He put together the firewood and lit it. Then he brought out a pan, and ran into a real problem. He couldn't cook.

He looked at the girl. "Wench, do you know how to cook?" he said roughly.

"Excuse me?!" she said, indignant.

"Guess you don't want to be untied for a little bit."

She huffed and looked away from him. _3, 2, 1,_ Dark Pit thought.

"Alright, untie me," she finally said. Dark Pit got the food out of his backpack. It was a fair amount of salted meat. It was the last he had for a meal, but it would be a good meal. He set it on a plate and then moved to the girl.

He untied her and said, "Cook woman."

She went red with rage. "My name isn't girl, wench, girlie, or woman! It's Aria!" she yelled.

Dark Pit grabbed her roughly by the wrist. "Anymore outbursts, and I'm gonna tie you right back up and throw in a gag for good measure."

Aria went into indignant silence. She walked over to the meat, grabbed some spices from Dark Pit's pack and went to work.

As she cooked, the awkward set in. It was thick in the air. Here were the two of them, alone, and she was cooking like a wife. Neither of them could speak. They just kind of shared awkward looks. It went on for quite some time.

"Alright, I can't stand this," Aria said as she cooked. "This shouldn't be awkward. I should be mad."

"Brazen, aren't you, Woman?" Dark Pit replied, mostly to the awkward part. He didn't know what to follow up with. He couldn't say anything to her.

She got the meat out of the pan and served him. He got out another plate and gave her a small portion of the steak. It was only about a quarter, but it would suffice. They ate their meal in total silence. Aria didn't make any comments about being called "Woman," which Dark Pit felt was odd, as she had been so indignant earlier. He found that he enjoyed messing with her.

He collected the plates and did his best to clean them. He put them back in the bag, keeping an eye on Aria the entire time. After he did this, there was another awkward silence. He couldn't guess as to the cause. They were prisoner and captor; he should be able to easily ignore her. Yet, he couldn't. All he did was stare at her while figuring out what to do with her.

She finally broke the silence. "What do you need with me anyway?" she asked.

Dark Pit would have totally spurned the question, but if she didn't know what he needed her to do, then she was useless. So, that in mind, he reached into his coat and pulled out the Underworld key. She recoiled in shock. She had a strange look in her eye.

"Th-th-that's the source of the light I was following!" she said quietly, but with enormous shock.

"You can detect this from afar," Dark Pit said. "That ability is what makes you valuable to me. There are at least four others like this. If I find them all, I can get to the underworld, complete the mission, and earn myself 9,000,000 gold."

"So, you're a greedy mercenary who only cares about the paycheck."

"Yep," he said, falsely. There were plenty of missions that he, Magnus, and Gaol had rejected because they were too dirty, sly, or underhanded to take in good conscience. And besides, there was better money in doing things for people, especially wealthy people.

Aria looked at him with her characteristic evil eye. Dark Pit had gotten used to it, so its effect wasn't felt. "I won't help you," she resolved.

Dark Pit raised an eyebrow. "Alright," he said. Then, he jumped her. They slammed into the ground. Her eyes went wide with shock and her face went beet red. Without waiting, he turned Aria over to her back and tied her hands. While she was still dazed, he took the long length of rope leftover from the hand tie and tied it around the nearest tree.

She got up at him and looked at him in fury. "That was dirty you perv!" she yelled.

"How can I even think about you like that? You're way too repulsive for me. I only jumped you to daze you and get you tied before you could fight back," he stated. The subtle insult to her looks had the desired effect.

Her face went even redder with rage. She didn't say anything, as any response to that would put her in an awkward situation. She just got up, walked to the tree (she had about 10 feet of slack) and sat down.

Dark Pit made sure to go around the tree and remove anything that she could use to cut the rope. It took some time, but the result was that she couldn't escape without using her teeth.

_Right_, he thought, _I need to take care of that._ He went to his bag and grabbed a piece of cloth to use as a gag.

He started walking towards her. "Oh, no!" she yelled. "You told me you wouldn't use that!"

"I told you that I'd put it on if you had more outbursts. This counts. Besides, I can't give you the option to use your teeth to cut the rope," Dark Pit coolly replied.

She seemed disappointed. Apparently Dark Pit had been right to use the gag. She was planning to use her teeth. He came up to her with some extra rope, as well as the gag. He used the rope to force her to hold her head still. He then forced her mouth open and put the gag in. _There, _he thought, _now I don't need to worry about an escape attempt._

Ignoring her muffled babbling, he crawled into his bed and went to sleep.


	16. Shift

Chapter 15: Shift

Dark Pit woke at dawn. He looked over at Aria. The ground around her was messed up due her attempts to wiggle free in the night. She was sleeping peacefully. Dark Pit liked her better this way; silent. He turned to watch the sun rise. It came up in the east, illuminating the clouds with a brilliant yellow glow. He liked dawns like this. They were the most calming and soothing.

And then that moment was gone. Dark Pit heard rustling behind him and knew that it was the end of his peace. Dealing with her was a pain. She could never seem to be quiet. _She's supposed to be some stuck up noble_, he thought, referring to the way she carried herself when he first saw her. _You'd think she'd have learned some politeness from her life in "high society."_

He walked over to Aria and removed the gag before she was fully awake. With him there to watch her, it wasn't necessary. However, he had no desire to carry her again. If he kept that up long enough, he'd wear himself out.

"Awake, wench?" he asked.

"I hate you, too," she responded.

"Get much sleep?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"I won't grace that question with an answer."

He walked over to her and bent down.

"Oh, no!" she said firmly. "Don't get any closer you pervert."

"What's there to be perverted about? You aren't exactly a looker," he stated back. He was lying, as she was quite beautiful, but getting under her skin would eventually make her more cooperative.

The night before, he'd come up with a plan. He'd just keep their little arguments going until his insults broke her. It'd take some time, but he was patient. However, a part of him knew that what he was doing was totally wrong.

Without even bothering with her opinion, he untied her. She stood up, a little shocked.

"Letting me go?" she asked hesitantly.

"Hardly," Dark Pit replied. "You're just too dang heavy for me to constantly carry."

She got all red in the face and moved to slap him. Dark Pit effortlessly intercepted the arm. He grabbed and brought her almost nose to nose with him.

"I can watch you just fine without the ropes," he stated. "I only need them when I can't watch you."

"Then why'd you carry me yesterday?"

Instead of telling her that she was already tied and it was convenient for him, he said, "Humiliation, mostly."

"You insolent-"

Dark Pit cut her off by drawing his weapon. "I can always use this if I want."

That shut her up. They stood there for a while, glaring at each other. Dark Pit then pointed east.

"March, woman," he said. Rather than arguing and making her situation worse, Aria just complied.

They walked east. The scenery was always the same; evergreen forests and mountains. Literally nothing happened. The sun went up to noon. They still walked.

Aria suddenly stopped. "Um," she started, "I kind of have to-"

Dark Pit got the idea. "Quickly," he said. "And don't think I can't hunt you down."

With that Aria left. Dark Pit waited patiently for her to return. Then, after a few minutes, he went after her. She'd tried to escape. Then he heard the scream. He suddenly took off running. He just ran towards the screaming as hard as he could. He came to a large boulder, with Aria on the top. Surrounding her were a series of slime-like creatures, each with one eyeball in the center of its head.

Dark Pit drew his weapon. The blade came out effortlessly, and he ran into the fray. He started cutting the creatures down before they even noticed he was there. When they did notice, they started shooting… something at him. He had to dodge a lot. The little monsters were tougher than they looked.

He started drawing air to the sword. He dodged, and slashed. Turning, he slashed another monster before it could even attack. That's when he felt it was ready. He raised his blade to the sky, and prepared to let the wind loose.

"Grab onto something!" he yelled to Aria. Then he released the wind. It exploded outward from the blade, blowing the slimy beasts away from him. Before the wind had died down, he started carving the dazed beasts in half. He was able to get most of them.

However, one snuck up behind him, and shot him in the arm. He experienced a searing pain, as if he had been burned. He shot out and killed the creature before it could fire another ball of… whatever it was.

He quickly took his coat off and threw it to the ground. The spot where he had been hit had a hole forming in the sleeve. The stuff burned through to the ground. He then picked up the coat. The gem in his belt had done his job. His new outfit was now self-regenerating. Even as he watched, the hole closed itself up and ejected the last of the acidic material.

Aria came down from her post.

"Are you alright, Aria?" Dark Pit asked with genuine concern.

She seemed a little flustered. "Y-y-yes," she said.

"What's with the flustering?" he asked, confused.

"Well, it's just," she said hesitantly. "Well, you used my name."

_Crap_, he thought, his plan going out the window. When had his cold side given way to concern?

"Well, I had to save you," he said. "You're no good to me dead."

"I'm just glad you came."

Dark Pit suddenly doubled over. A white flash seemed to be over his eyes. He collapsed to the ground.

_The world he was in seemed unreal. It had a wavy edge, as if he were in an alternate reality. Or… a memory. He suddenly saw a girl. She was in a meadow, surrounded by monoeyes. She was screaming for somebody to help her._

_ His body moved, his Silver Bow in hand. He shot up the monoeyes. He had been hunting the slippery suckers for three days. They had been terrorizing the local towns, and he'd been hired to stop it. How they had stayed ahead of him, he had no idea. He just shot them up, relishing each one falling to the ground and vanishing in a puff of smoke._

_ He walked to the girl the monoeyes had been terrorizing. He heard himself say, "Are you alright?"_

_ "Yes," the girl said. She was strikingly beautiful. She was actually a young woman, no older than seventeen or eighteen. She had a soft face with blue eyes. Her hair was short, and a bizarre blue color. Although, he had seen stranger colors. "Thank you for saving me."_

_ "I was just hunting the monoeyes," he responded._

_ "Still, I'm glad you came. What's your name?"_

_ "Dark Pit."_

_ "Mine's Lilia. Why don't you stay at my place. The village headman will give you the reward for those monoeyes, and I owe you for saving my life."_

_ Dark Pit was intrigued by the girl's generosity. His better judgment told him no, but went with her anyway._

Dark Pit woke up to staring at the night sky. There was a cool rag on his head. It felt nice. Someone had been looking after him. He stood up to see Aria prepping dinner.

"I thought you would have bolted," he said, startling her.

"I did," she said. "But I couldn't just leave you there."

"You don't know how to get to a town, do you?" Dark Pit asked.

"How did-? Never mind."

Dark Pit knew he was right on the money. However, his flashback had softened him quite a bit. He couldn't explain why. But it had. He felt renewed. But the hatred still burned within him. Though, it did seem that distance from Pit was calming his fire. That small part of him he didn't know about also acknowledged that Aria had something to do with it.

He grabbed her hand. "Thank you," he said sincerely.

Aria was flustered. "Um, it was nothing. I couldn't just leave you there for predators."

Now Dark Pit decided to try something. "Like you could do anything about them," he said. He didn't say it to break her, but he did enjoy getting under her skin.

Her eyes narrowed. "Why you…" she said menacingly.

Dark Pit just smiled, the first sincere one in a long time. _Lilia,_ he thought, _why is your memory so calming?_


	17. Traveling (With a Purpose)

Chapter 16: Traveling (With a Purpose)

It was supposed to be funny. A childish prank really. Dark Pit thought it would have been great fun. Unfortunately, he miscalculated. And now, Aria was wearing his coat. He didn't mean for it to go like that, but it did.

He'd laughed hysterically when he'd pushed her into the pond; for about two seconds. Then she turned and faced him. Dark Pit immediately averted his eyes and offered his coat. His mistake; he hadn't thought about the effect of water on light colored clothing.

However, Dark Pit had to admit, she looked really good in his coat. Like; crazy good. It offered a good representation of her "dark side" as Dark Pit called it. Namely, even though she was mostly polite and respectful, so he had heard, she was quite fiery when she wanted to be. And he had to deal with that fire all…the…time.

Dark Pit continued walking. In that day, they had moved further away from the mountains. They were still near the range, but they were further south, walking through thicker forest. Dark Pit had decided on that path for a very specific reason. There was a certain town, where there was an old friend of Dark Pit's. _Friend?_ he thought. _I've never considered him a friend before, but I guess he is one._ Dark Pit had met him some time ago. His memory placed it right after the blank spot in his head.

He needed that friend's advice and knowledge. There was a certain mystery around the mission that needed to be resolved. It was something that Dark Pit hadn't heard of before. If his suspicions were correct, he was walking into territory that had been buried for so long that even the gods had neglected to mention it. Maybe they didn't even know. There was only one god who could have possibly known, and he had been dead for a long time.

"Hey, wench," he called.

"What is it, PervPit?" she responded.

Dark Pit was a little surprised at her boldness. She hadn't insulted him like that yet. He just shrugged it off.

"Your dress dry yet? I'd like my coat back."

"I'm not giving you what you want."

"That wasn't my question. I asked if your dress was dry."

"Not telling."

"Fine, I'll just find out the hard way." Aria's eyes widened. Yep, the tactic had worked. She turned around and opened the coat. She then turned back to him, without closing the coat.

"Here's your answer," she said. "Now take your filthy coat back."

Dark Pit did so easily. Then, "I thought you weren't giving me what I wanted?"

"Crap," she said under her breath, clearly defeated.

"That's very unladylike of you," Dark Pit teased.

"Like you care," she said.

"You're right, I just enjoy getting under your skin."

"Fine then, I just won't respond."

"Good luck with that."

"Quiet, you!"

"You've already failed."

Aria growled at him, clearly not liking his messing around. Dark Pit found that he quite enjoyed this lighthearted bantering. He found that it was quite calming. He hadn't bantered like that since…since…

Crap, when was the last time he had bantered? He thought long and hard as they walked. At the end of it, his blank spot came to mind. His vision started blurring. The white was coming on. Dark Pit grabbed his head, already losing balance.

"Not again," he stated weakly before he fully slipped into the flashback.

_Dark Pit briefly used his Power of Flight to climb on top of the house. In his hands were Lilia's day clothes. Shortly, she came rushing out of the house, still in her night clothes. Her hair was a nightmarish rat's nest. She was huffing and puffing and clearly not happy._

_ "Give those back!" she yelled._

_ "Come and get them!" Dark Pit replied._

_ "No fair! I can't fly like you!"_

_ "Too bad. I guess I'll just keep these then."_

_ "Why you-"_

_ Lilia began trying to climb the house. Dark Pit watched her uselessly fail for a while, then dropped down._

_ "Here you go," he said, holding out her clothes._

_ "Hmph," she huffed, heading over._

_ "Whoops," Dark Pit said, tossing the bundle into a nearby tree._

_ Lilia looked at him, mad and a little desperate._

_ "You get those down right now, mister!" she ordered._

_ "Ooh, I'm shaking in my sandals."_

_ "Don't make me do it," she said, her body saying she was ready to yell._

_ "Do what?" Dark Pit replied, wanting to keep the game up as long as possible._

_ "Call _him_," she said back._

_ The game was up now. Even though her father was human, he was still a nightmare when it came to protecting his daughter. "Alright, I'll get them."_

_ He flew up to the tree and got the clothes down. "It was just a little bit of fun."_

_ "For you, maybe," Lilia replied, her anger evaporating. She was like that; sweet to a fault._

_ Dark Pit had been hovering around for a few weeks now. He didn't know what it was, but the girl just held some kind of magnetism for him. He kept coming back. A week ago he'd offered to pay rent for the house's empty room. To his surprise, George, Lilia's father, had accepted. Dark Pit still went out on jobs, but they were local, and he wasn't gone for more than six hours at a time. He liked living here. It had given him a positive side to his personality. He found that he liked it a lot better than his lone wolf cynicism of before._

Dark Pit awoke from the flash back. He was still on the ground where he fell. Aria was hovering over him.

"Wake up!" she told him.

"I'm up," he replied. Aria breathed a sigh of relief.

"You scared me, doing your fainting act again."

"It's a flashback, not a faint." _What the heck did I tell her that for?_

"A…flashback? To what?"

"A blank spot in my past. It has a lot to do with the other me." Dark Pit didn't want to use _his_ name. The way he was now, thinking about that angel just hurt too much. Dark Pit still didn't understand what had happened, but he was starting to get suspicions. He didn't like the way it was headed.

When sunset was nearing, Dark Pit started looking for a large tree. He needed one for what he was going to do. After about 30 minutes, he found a good one. Without warning, he grabbed Aria and flew into it. Yep, definitely perfect. The spot where the branches separated fully from the trunk was nice and flat, easily enough for a person to sleep on. He laid the shocked Aria down.

"You're going to stay here until tomorrow," he ordered.

"What on earth for!?" she asked.

"I need to go somewhere, but if I take you, you'll try to run off. So I'm leaving you in the wilderness, where you don't know where you're going, so that I know where to find you and to ensure you don't run off."

"What, you don't trust me?" she asked innocently.

"Not even as far as I could throw you."

Without waiting for, or hearing, her reply, he flew off to where he was going. He only flew so that Aria wouldn't get any bright ideas about following. He landed about two minutes later, when his Power of Flight was nearly depleted.

He started walking towards Woodfall, a town at the edge of the forest. Richard would be there, and he could answer some questions.


	18. The Backdoor

Chapter 17: The Backdoor

Author's Note: The story is really starting to go places. RonnyBravo and I have a lot planned out that will make the dynamics of the stories, as well as the linkage between them, much more interesting. In fact, it's actually started now. Let's see if anyone can figure it out. There won't be any hints. Btw, did anyone get the reference in the last chapter?

Dark Pit approached Woodfall long after the sun had set. The moon was rising into the sky. The night was beautiful. But he wasn't focused on that. He needed to find Richard and explain some of what had happened over the past week. There was a mystery that Richard could answer.

As Dark Pit entered the town, he took the eastern path of the main road. Due to the hour, the streets were nearly deserted. If it were anyone else, Dark Pit would have worried about waking him up. But Richard was a night person, so he'd be up.

Dark Pit continued walking. The town was a modest one. It was made up of small but comfortable log-cabin-like buildings. Some of them had warm firelight spilling out the windows. Dark Pit just kept walking.

He reached a small building near the outskirts of the cities. This building stood out because it was decorated with all sorts of god-realm related oddities, including things like a picture of the original underworld key. He also had posters of various strong powers in both Skyworld and the Underworld.

Dark Pit knocked once on the door. It opened, giving Dark Pit a view of a truly massive man. He was all muscle; and was very tall. His face was adorned by a full beard that was cut so that it didn't hand off his face too much. He had tree-brown hair and lightning blue eyes. Yep, definitely Richard.

"Dark Pit! Long time no see!" he said in his thundering voice.

"Hey, Richard," Dark Pit replied.

"What brings you here?"

"A mission."

"Typical, you were always all business."

"May I come in?"

"Of course."

Dark Pit entered the home. The inside was cluttered full of the god-related items. Ordinarily, Dark Pit would have classified it as junk, but if Richard owned it, it had some significance. Dark Pit carefully made his way to the desk at the other end of the main room. He sat down, with Richard across from him.

"Alright," Richard started, "What do you need to know about?"

"This," Dark Pit said, putting the Underworld key on the table.

Richard's eyes widened. He picked it up and examined it thoroughly. He pulled out a number of odd instruments, measuring who knows what. He then set the gem down.

"Where did you find this?" he asked in awe.

"In a cave in the mountains," was the reply. "I know it's an Underworld key, but what I don't get is the V in the middle of it. What does it mean?"

"It means that this is not the conventional Underworld key. The gods, as well as many humans, always track the location of that one. I know where it is now, but with the gods' disappearance, (yes I know about that) the gate that that key unlocks is impossible to reach."

"So, if this isn't the main Underworld key, what is it?"

"This," Richard said, holding up the key, "is one of the five keys to the Underworld's backdoor."

"Backdoor?"

"It's not something that many know about. I spent about ten years trying to dig up this information. Don't ask me how I got it; it's a story I'd rather forget. Anyway, the backdoor is a secret entrance to the Underworld that had almost been lost to time. Very few people know of its existence."

"So, what's so special?"

"The backdoor lies somewhere in these lands. It is the only entrance that earth-dwellers can use without the help of gods. But it's also a secret entrance; and the location is unknown, even to many of the major gods. To ensure the security of that gate, Hades created five keys to open the gate. He then scattered them to increase the security."

"So my hunch was right. There is another door."

"Yes." There was a long, thoughtful pause. "So, what's your interest in the Underworld?"

"My current mission demands that I go there."

"Must be a high class mission. You've made quite the name for yourself."

"Yes, I have."

"So, where's your team?"

"We're…not on good terms right now."

Richard nodded knowingly. "I see. Well, I'm sure everything will work out. By the way, how do you plan to find the other four keys?"

"During a recent battle with my double, we captured a girl who can see the locations of things that are important. If it weren't for her, Pit would never have been led to the location where we were waiting for them."

"You captured her? That seems a little low. However, you are a mercenary. I guess there are bound to be some rough tactics here and there."

"Of course."

Richard got up and went to his bedroom. Dark Pit waited patiently, wondering what his long-time friend was going to do. Richard came back with a bundle in his hand.

"Here," he said, offering the bundle. "You're going to need it."

Dark Pit was puzzled. He took the bundle and opened it. Inside was another Underworld key, this one with the Roman numeral II.

"Where did _you_ get this?" Dark Pit asked, amazed.

"Let's just say it has to do with that story I want to forget."

Dark Pit got up to leave. Richard stopped him.

"A last bit of advice before you go," he said. "You need to get yourself a girl. It'll help with that prickly edge your personality has."

"Right back at you, buddy," Dark Pit replied knowingly.

"Hey, I don't have a prickly edge in my personality."

"But you do need a girl."

"Get out of here," Richard responded good-naturedly.

Dark Pit took the keys and left. He'd never imagined that Richard would actually have one of the keys he was looking for. That was a major plus. Now, Dark Pit felt better suited to his mission than ever before. With that thought in mind, he began the return trip to where he'd left Aria.


	19. Some Semblence of Direction

Chapter 18: Some Semblance of Direction

Dark Pit watched the dawn from a high perch in the tree. The sun was beautiful, its rays reflecting off the low lying fog covering the forest. In the dawn he found solace. He felt perfectly at ease. No playfulness, no banter, no darkness. He was just at peace. He felt like a sentinel of the dawn. He rarely missed its arrival.

He didn't even notice her wake up.

"You seem peaceful," she said, slightly startling him.

"Yeah," he said back.

"There's something about the dawn that's calming, isn't there?"

"Yeah, it's peaceful alright."

"When I look at it, I feel as if I'm connected somehow. It makes me think of my missing mother. I don't know why, but it does. What do you see in it?"

"It makes me feel like I belong. Like all my troubles are gone."

"I wonder why."

"It may have a little to do with a figure of my past."

"Who?"

It was a long time before Dark Pit answered. "Her name is Lilia. My memories surrounding her are foggy, like I had suppressed them."

Aria stood there for some time. "Was she special to you?"

"More than you could know," Dark Pit found himself answering instantly. _Was I really that close to her?_ He couldn't put his finger on it. If he was so close to her, why had he forgotten her? What had happened? Why wasn't she still in his life? To these, he had no answer.

"Tell me a little about her," Aria finally said.

Dark Pit remained closemouthed. He didn't want to answer a question that he still didn't have all the answers to. However, thinking about her had recovered one memory.

"I don't remember much," he hesitantly said. "But I do remember that she loved to watch the sun rise. Maybe that's why I feel such peace when I watch the dawn."

"Did you love her?"

"I don't know."

There was a long, long silence. They both sat there, watching night fully give way to day. He loved it. It was so calming. As he watched it, his thoughts turned to the new girl in his life. What exactly was going on between them? Almost without him knowing, they had developed an odd sort of friendship. He was still her captor, but he was always feeling more at ease around her. Him opening up to Aria so much proved that. He had never opened up like that to Magnus and Gaol, and they had worked together for two years.

"Well," Dark Pit started, "we need to get moving. There are things to do."

He then threw Aria over his shoulder and vaulted out of the tree. He then dropped her unceremoniously onto the ground. He heard a surprised 'oof' follow the thud. He turned around and watched Aria stand up, rubbing her rear end.

"What was that for you jerk!?" she yelled.

"What?" Dark Pit said innocently. "Can't I have a little fun?"

"Not if it involves dropping me on my butt."

"Get over it you sissy Mary."

Dark Pit deftly dodged the incoming slap, grabbed her arm, flipped her over his shoulder, grabbed the supplies, and started walking. Yep, the moment was definitely gone.

Aria protested most of the time that they walked. They were getting near the eastern edge of the mountains now, and Dark Pit wanted to have a destination before the veered away. He found a stream and dumped Aria on the ground, again.

She clearly wasn't in the mood for round 2. Dark Pit turned around, sat down, and looked her straight in the eye.

"I'm going to tell you of my mission and why I need you," he stated. Aria looked at him, dumbfounded. She clearly didn't expect him to say that.

"Around two weeks ago," he began, "a cloaked woman broke into the Dark Triad Mansion. She had a mission and a high paying reward as well. The mission was to enter the Underworld and find a fortress where the souls of the dead are being converted into Underworld monsters. The job is to enter the fortress and destroy it."

Aria stood there, completely dumbfounded. She clearly wasn't expecting something like that. She cleared her throat a couple of times and asked, "Why do you need me?"

"Without the gods, the main path to the Underworld is sealed. But there is a secret backdoor." Here Dark Pit took out the two Underworld keys. "There are five keys total. All five must be collected in order to open the gate."

"Those keys," she said in a hushed voice. "They're what drew me to that cave."

"And you can find the other three. Only your power can do it."

Aria was silent. Dark Pit stood up. "We may have gotten off to a bad start," he said, "but I need your help."

"Do I have a choice?" she immediately shot back.

"There's a path a mile that way," Dark Pit said, pointing to his left. "Follow it west to reach the nearest town."

Aria now seemed even more stunned. "Y- you're," she stammered out, "…releasing me?" She said it so quietly, as if she was hoping against hope that what she was hearing was true.

"I'm offering you a choice," he said. "Go that way and return to your normal life, or come with me and lend your power to my quest."

Dark Pit offered his hand. It was a gesture of friendship, of partnership, of trust. Aria looked at him, then the road. She seemed torn. Finally, she stood and gripped his hand.

"I'll go with you," she stated firmly. "I won't allow souls to be monstrously mistreated. Not while I have the power to stop it."

Dark Pit smiled at his former captive. Somehow, someway, they had managed to become a partnership. They had developed a sudden trust in each other that allowed them to overcome the situation. They were ready to step forward into the future.

"So," Dark Pit said, "where does the light of the keys lead you next?"

"North," she said. "North and west, near the coastline. But it's fogged. It's as if fate has something planned for us there."

Dark Pit felt it surge within him. The darkness of hatred began clouding his judgment, just briefly. The last time fate had laid such a card on the table, it had brought him into contact with Pit. Even thinking of that angel gave him a rise. Aria's company had helped soothe him, as had the memories of Lilia. But life was coming to the fore once again.

_The next time I see you,_ he thought, _I will find the truth. I will know what you did to her!_

Dark Pit may not have thought about it consciously, but he knew his hatred stemmed from something Pit did to Lilia. It had to have.


	20. A Detour

Chapter 19: A Detour

"Why are we walking this way again?" Aria asked, annoyed.

"Because," Dark Pit answered, "there are more towns on this route than the short one."

"Why would you care about towns?"

"We can refresh supplies and get a better night's sleep. Plus, I might be able to take a few smaller jobs to increase the overall take from this quest."

"As if 10,000,000 gold isn't enough."

"Gold is gold, regardless of amount. Plus, you'd be surprised how quickly 5-hour jobs add up."

"I don't know, maybe you'll earn 1,000,000 from doing something along the line of a couple thousand 5-hour jobs."

"Shut it."

"Mmmmm!" she said, sticking her tongue out at him. He completely ignored the gesture. They were traveling northeast, trying to get to the northern side of the mountain range. True, it would have been faster if they had gone straight west and then headed north on that side of the mountains, but Dark Pit thought that their current path was more comfortable and profitable. Also, he needed to look into refreshing supplies and getting some arms for his partner. She needed to be able to defend herself. And it wasn't very likely that they'd find good swords lying around in the wilderness.

They continued walking. The last mountain in the range soon became visible. The sun was only an hour two away from its descent now. They needed to hurry and find a good place to camp. As they walked, the forest thinned out, making visibility improve. However, the woods were still very present.

Just as the sun was touching the horizon, Dark Pit saw it. Firelight was streaming through the trees. As he got closer, he could hear voices, a lot of voices. And they weren't friendly. They were extremely rough, and the talk was so male that it was disgusting. He motioned for Aria to be silent. He crept forward, and saw an old fort, with firelight streaming through the windows. There weren't any patrols. Apparently the location wasn't very well known.

Dark Pit looked at the crumbling, square stone structure. The main gate was shut tight, but there was a small access hatch in the door that was wide open. The ramparts were crumbling, and there was a major section of wall and roof that was missing from right above the gate. The talk definitely revealed them to be a group of thieves. Ruffian brigands, most likely. They were rambling on about their latest conquests, and Dark Pit almost threw up at some of their "conquest" stories.

"Geez," Aria whispered into his ear, "I thought you were perverted."

Dark Pit whipped around and looked her dead in the eye. "You and I are going to have a talk about that later," he whispered firmly. "I'm going to set a few things straight."

Aria gulped and sat back.

"Stay here," Dark Pit ordered. Aria wasn't in any mood to contradict him.

Dark Pit moved on the fort, trying to get a look inside. He used his Power of Flight to reach the hole he'd observed earlier. He looked at what the brigands were doing. They were all sitting around a fire, drinking and laughing. There was a group of young women in the corner, all tied. Some of them looked extremely traumatized. The rest seemed deadly afraid. And they had good reason to be.

However, things looked pretty good. The bandits were relaxed, fearing nothing. Their weapons were strewn all over the place. And there was a good size treasure pile that could compensate him for a job like that 20 times over. Yep, the reward, both monetary and feeling good about his actions, was definitely worth what he was about to do.

He reached into his coat and pulled out his weapon. He silently expanded the blades out from the hilt. Soon, his Silver Sword was ready for action. Without further ado, he jumped into the fort.

"Hey there," he said when he landed. The brigands jumped up and faced him, clearly surprised. "You've caused enough trouble. I'm here to end it. You can either all surrender and let me drag you to prison, or you can resist and all die. Your pick."

The bandits responded by scrambling to grab their weapons. Soon they were all armed and closing on him in a semi-circle formation.

Dark Pit smirked. "Death then. More fun for me."

He summoned a wind blast and used it to knock over the center of the formation. He then jumped into the air and came down hard. He drove his sword into the first thief's gut. He pulled his blade out of the ground and blocked one attack while dodging another. The man whom Dark Pit had blocked was preparing to strike again. Dark Pit slipped the guy's defense and sliced his gut open.

The man Dark Pit'd dodged was coming to strike him in the back. Dark Pit inverted his blade and drove it backwards as soon as the man was in range. Meanwhile, ten others were closing fast. Five more had gone and drawn bows.

Dark Pit took to the air. He hovered just out of reach of the frustrated swordsman. The bowmen fired. Dark Pit used his blade's wind ability to catch the arrows, sling them around, and press the return-to-sender button. The archers fell dead, each with an arrow sticking out of his gut.

Dark Pit landed just outside the main group. He had to be careful now. The Power of Flight took up not only Pandora's leftover power, but also his own energy. He raised his blade. Nine of the men converged. Dark Pit launched a series of deft blocks, dodges, and attacks that had all nine of them dead within 10 seconds.

When he looked for the last man, he saw him holding one of the women hostage.

"Now you let me go, you demon! Or I'll slit her throat!" the brigand said.

"You can't," Dark Pit said confidently.

The man moved his sword closer to the woman's throat.

"You were say-" the ruffian began. However, as the man was adjusting his stance and beginning to talk, Dark Pit had already charged a blast of wind, closed the distance, and driven his blade through the man's head. The brigand fell dead before he could even draw a drop of the woman's blood.

Dark Pit pulled his blade out of the deformed skull. He took a piece of cloth off of one of the dead thieves and cleaned his blade with it. He then turned to the women.

The woman he had rescued was crying tears of relief, as were many of the other captives.

"You're all safe now," Dark Pit stated in his normal nonchalant voice. He then walked over and cut all the ropes off of the relieved women. He helped make sure all of them could walk to wherever they had come from.

The one he'd saved from certain death walked up to him. "Thank you, good sir. Because of you, we can all live. What is your name, and what reward would you ask of our village?"

"I'm a mercenary," Dark Pit started. "My name's Dark Pit. As for a reward, I'll collect my usual fee for this kind of job out of that treasure pile over there, as well as any weapons I find useful."

"Of course," she replied. "Our deepest thanks to you."

Dark Pit looked at them with genuine concern. "Don't let what they did to you keep you from living life in the fullest," he advised.

With that, the women left, headed for home. Dark Pit went over to the pile. He took 1,000 gold, the usual Dark Triad fee for brigand extermination for a group larger than ten. He made sure to leave the rest, as it was likely stolen from nearby villages. He then dug through the pile's odd trinkets.

Most of it seemed pretty useless, except for monetary value. However, to his surprise, Dark Pit pulled out two angelic bows. One was a Silver Bow, like he used to wield, only not as powerful as his was. Still, he wanted to add long range back to his weapon. He'd need it where he was going. The other one he decided not to fuse. That was an ultra-rare and very strong Palutena bow. He'd give that to Aria, as he'd already seen her display some skill with a bow. He then picked up a sword and some knives that Aria would be able to use to defend herself. Then, he left.


	21. Clearing Things Up

Chapter 20: Clearing Things Up

Dark Pit awoke at dawn, as per his habit. He hadn't brought the weapons that he'd acquired out yet. It was pretty late when he'd busted the criminals, and he went straight to sleep as soon as he had returned from that profitable raid. But the profits were only a part of it. To be able to save those girl's lives, and, in some cases, their dignity, had felt enormously good. It had been a long time since he'd taken a job to help people.

Aria stirred from her sleeping spot. She yawned and stretched.

"Morning," she said.

"Morning," he replied.

There wasn't another word exchanged. Aria got ready to make breakfast while Dark Pit moved to examine the new weapons. He picked up the Silver Bow he'd obtained. With that, he could restore his weapon's ability to fire a long range bolt. It probably wouldn't shoot anything like a complete silver bow, but it was a good long ranged attack.

He then looked at the Palutena Bow he'd acquired. That was a very rare weapon, one of the few weapons commissioned by Palutena herself. Dark Pit had never seen one that wasn't in Pit's hand. What's more, this one wasn't some weak weapon with low ranged and low melee power. No, this one had enormous range and power. It'd make a good weapon for Aria to use. That is, if she could figure out how to use it.

Before going back for breakfast, he fused the Silver Bow into his incomplete weapon. Though the absorbed bow wasn't nearly as powerful as his was, it would have the desired effect. The knife end of his Silver Sword grew just a bit longer.

Dark Pit realized he had never tried the knife end of his blade. He separated the ends and held the knife reverse-wield style. He swung the arm that the knife was in (it was the left one, by the way). The motion felt perfectly natural. He didn't have a single problem with it. That done, he hid the Palutena bow- he didn't want to give it to Aria quite yet- and returned to eat breakfast.

As he sat savoring the meal, he looked Aria dead in the eye. He just stared, wanting to project that he had something on his mind. It took, as Aria started to give him inquisitive looks. Finally, after she had finished, she said:

"What is the deal?"

"What deal?" Dark Pit said playfully.

"I mean the stare," she responded, no humor in her voice.

"Oh, that."

"Yeah, that."

"Do remember last night?"

"Yeah. You went to fight thieves and you were really tired when you came back. You didn't even bother to show me what you'd gotten."

"That can wait. Do remember what I said to you?"

Aria paled when she realized what he was talking about.

"Now that I've had my fun making you guess, I must ask: do you always assume the worst in people?" he inquired.

"No, but you've done some things."

"Yes, but you totally misinterpreted my intent."

"Uh, you pressed yourself against me and then pulled that stunt with the pond."

"When I pressed against you, it was to restrain you, nothing else. As for the pond, I thought that that would have been funny."

"What's funny about getting a dress of my color wet?"

"That's the problem. I didn't think about the effect of water on a cream-colored dress. That bit was totally an accident."

"Well…" she didn't finish.

"Now that that's cleared up," he started, "I have something for you. Wait here."

Dark Pit left the camp. He picked up the Palutena Bow and returned, hiding the bow in his jacket.

"Since you are my partner and not my prisoner, you need to be able to fight," he told her.

"Fight? I can only fight with a bow or knives," she responded.

"Well," he said, "I have both." He removed the Palutena Bow from his cloak.

"You can't be entirely human. I'm certain of that. Which means that you might be able to use this angelic bow."

She took the bow and stared at it in awe. Then:

"What do you mean, 'not entirely human'?"

"You have an ability that doesn't manifest itself in normal humans. You're either a demigod or have been blessed by a god. That kind of power may mean that you can use this."

"I'll try," she said, not 100% confident.

She raised the bow at a tree. She moved as if she were going to draw an arrow. She drew, and nothing happened. She drew again, same result. She tried over, and over, and over. Nothing happened. Finally she slumped down to the ground, done trying to figure the bow out.

"This is hopeless," she complained.

"No, it isn't," Dark Pit responded. "I felt that bow react to whatever power you hold. Maybe if you can put yourself in touch with that power, you can fire."

"I'll try," she said, even less enthusiastic than before.

She drew, nothing happened. She tried again. Still nothing. She tried a third time with no luck. She looked like she was ready to give up. She decided to go for one last try. She closed her eyes and evened her breathing. Dark Pit watched in surprise as a white, wispy, fog-like light came off of her. When her eyes opened, they were glowing gold.

She drew the bow. A perfect blue arrow formed where she drew. She held it, channeling power from the bow to create a charged shot. She released the arrow. The charged bolt split the tree that she was aiming at in half. Her aim was scary accurate. She had cut a knot in the tree clean in half.

Dark Pit was genuinely impressed. He had never seen anyone with human blood in them wield an angelic weapon, which raised the question of why the thieves had it. Before he could put too much thought into it, Aria turned to him.

"I never knew that I had it in me," she said.

"Your own power can surprise you. How did you hold up to the release of your power?" he asked.

"I feel a little tired. I also had difficulty summoning that energy."

"Your human blood is probably rejecting the angelic power. That bow was meant to be used by an angel or other supernatural being. You'll need to be careful how much you use it. Overdo it, and it could kill you."

Aria looked at him wide eyed. "How do you know that?"

Dark Pit thought for a minute. He actually didn't know where he'd learned. He thought hard. Then that blank spot came forward. His vision was turned white and he lapsed into the flash back. It had to do with Lilia again.

_"You're a demigod?!" Dark Pit asked in surprise._

_ "Yes," Lilia said. "My mother is the goddess of magic, Hecate. I can actually use magic."_

_ "Show me," he said._

_ Lilia concentrated. "Fabric of the world," she said, almost a chant, "bend before my will. Become the power of magic!"_

_ A blue light sphere appeared in her hand. From it flowed peace and health._

_ "This is what I wield: blue Healing magic. It's not the only thing I can use, but it's what I'm best at."_

_ "Awesome!" Dark Pit said. A thought crossed his mind. "Hey, since you're half god, is it possible for you to wield angelic weapons?"_

_ "I don't know," she said. "I've never tried."_

_ "Here," Dark Pit said, holding out his Silver Bow. "Try using this."_

_ "Ok," she said, taking it from Dark Pit. She held it up and drew a golden arrow. Dark Pit was impressed that she'd gotten it the first time. She released the arrow. It didn't hit anything, but it did fly like it should have._

_ "You want to try something more powerful?" Dark Pit asked._

_ "Yeah!" she responded enthusiastically._

_ Dark Pit walked over to her and grabbed her around the waist._

_ "What are you doing?" she asked, half-heartedly trying to push him away._

_ "The Power of Flight needs to be active for it to work. Besides, any chance to hold you is a good one," he added, smiling._

_He was glad that they'd gotten that close. Their relationship had developed at a nice pace over the past ten months. He liked that she could put up with all his oddities. Her patience was a wonderful thing about her. She was also a very calming and innocent presence. It eased his soul. That ease was appreciated after some of the things he'd seen working as a mercenary. He really felt that this girl was the one. He loved her deeply. He was actually going to ask her dad for permission to marry her soon._

"_Hellooooooo?" he heard. "Is anyone hoooome?"_

"_Sorry," he said. "I got lost in thought. Let's go."_

"_Wait! I need to know what to do."_

"_Reach into the depths of the bow's power and fire at the sky. When that power reacts with my Power of Flight, you'll see something spectacular."_

_They flew high into the sky. The forest was wonderfully beautiful. Dark Pit noticed that the sun was setting. It threw a beautiful glow over the forest. The view was incredible._

"_Ready?" he asked Lilia, as his Flight was nearly half gone._

"_Ready," she said._

_She drew a dazzling arrow and let it loose at the sky. If flew up and came down as hundreds of arrows. It was raining a golden light. It was beautiful in combination with the sunset. He heard Lilia gasp in exhaustion. He returned to the ground._

"_What happened?" he asked her._

"_I feel like a part of me rejected the power. Maybe my human blood?"_

_ "Odd," Dark Pit replied._

_ "Well, when I released it, it felt like the power had to overcome a barrier first. The more power I tried to summon, the higher the barrier got. And now I'm exhausted."_

_ "You could be right," Dark Pit said._

The flashback ended. Dark Pit discovered that only a few seconds had gone by that time. He looked at Aria.

"Flashback?" she asked.

"Yeah," Dark Pit responded. "I remember where I learned the thing about human blood."

"Lilia?"

"Mm hm."

"Ok," she said, "we can continue this later."

Dark Pit was left to think on his own. He pondered on what else the flashback had revealed. He had suspected that he had loved Lilia for a long time, but to have that suspicion confirmed was something else entirely. What happened? What did Pit do? He still didn't have the answer. But he had a dark suspicion.


	22. Ocean Breeze

Chapter 21: Ocean Breeze

The two of them traveled north at a breakneck pace. The forest was rapidly giving way to more coastal features. They were nearing the northern ocean. Dark Pit wanted to get there as soon as possible, as ocean villages were usually quite nice because of trade made from travelers. They could probably get a nice place for the night if they could reach that kind of village before sunset.

Their pace paid off; there was a village in sight several hours before the sun set. Dark Pit and Aria entered and looked around. The village was a series of low-built buildings. They were made out of the wood of the unique trees that surrounded the area. They were set in a series of random streets, with very little order to them. The only thing orderly about the town's planning was the market in the center. All the streets led to the market eventually. Most of the inns were near the market as well.

"We should find a place and unload our supplies," Dark Pit said.

"I guess," Aria said.

"What's on your mind?"

"I've never seen the ocean before."

"I have. But I've never swam in it."

"Maybe we should go see what it's like?"

"Good idea."

With that decided, they headed to the center. Dark Pit looked at Aria as they were walking. He liked how easy it had become to talk to her now that some of the tension between them had been relieved. He also liked how she'd become much more agreeable. It saved him quite a bit of headache.

They picked a small, out of the way inn just northwest of the market. Dark Pit paid for the night and got the hotel key. They moved down a tropical themed hall and found their room. Dark Pit unlocked it and they went in to inspect.

The price they'd paid was well worth it. The rooms on that side were elevated, so the window in the wall opposite of the door had an excellent view of the ocean. Dark Pit wondered at its emerald vastness. The room itself was made up of the same tropical wood and a straw-styled roof. He was surprised to see that there was only one bed.

Before he even had a chance to play the gentleman, Aria said, "I'm sleeping on the floor."

"Why?" Dark Pit asked, baffled.

"Do you see that bed?"

Dark Pit took a closer look at the bed. Apparently, the fee didn't include the upkeep of the bed. The thing looked like it might have been infested with all sorts of nasty things.

"I'll be right back," Dark Pit said.

"Where are you going?" Aria asked.

"They are going to either clean this bed or give us a free night."

The innkeepers opted to clean the bed. That taken care of, Dark Pit got Aria and they went out to the market. Aria needed swimwear of some kind, after all. Dark Pit had found out the hard way that her dress would be no good at all.

They browsed several shops and stands. Eventually, they made a surprising discovery. Apparently, in this region, one piece, skin tight swimming tunics were popular. Aria chose a black outfit very similar to Dark Pit's own undergarment, which he'd be using to swim.

That done, they headed north to the beach. They only had an hour and a half of sunlight left. But they decided to make the most of it.

Dark Pit went in first. The first sensation that struck him was just how cold the water was. It was completely freezing. But, being an angel, he quickly adapted. He moved out into deeper water, enjoying the feeling of the waves crashing against them.

Dark Pit chuckled to himself when he heard Aria's very feminine squeal. The cold had definitely caught her off guard. Dark Pit turned and motioned for her to join him in the deeper water.

"Are you nuts?!" she yelled to him. "That water is cold! How can you stand it?"

"I got used to it," he shouted back. "Be a man and do the same."

"I'm a woman!"

"I know."

"Why you…!"

That did it. She was coming. She obviously didn't give a crap about the cold anymore. All she seemed to care about was getting into slapping range of Dark Pit. When she started getting very close, Dark Pit jumped her and dunked her. She came up gasping. While Dark Pit was laughing about it, she dunked him right back.

Dark Pit came up flying. Before he could even get a few feet from the surface, he felt his foot get grabbed and he was back underwater a second time. He grabbed Aria's foot and yanked her down and used her to support himself back to the surface. He swam away before Aria had a chance to grab him back.

She came up gasping for air. She looked for Dark Pit. Dark Pit laughed and said, "Had enough?"

"Never!" Aria yelled back. She started swimming for him. Dark Pit just swam away. They swam around in circles, laughing as they did it. Dark Pit decided to put in a little extra fun. He stopped and waited for Aria to close. Then, he used all his limbs, feet, arms, and wings, to kick up as much water as he could. Aria got a small wave in the face.

"So that's how it is," Aria said. She started kicking up a constant spray of water. Dark Pit's vision went out. It was lost in a spray of water. He sprayed blindly back at her. This went on for a few minutes. Finally, they tired out. They swam back to the shore and just lied next to each other in the sand.

They had climbed out of the ocean just in time to watch the sun set. It wasn't as beautiful as it would had been if they'd traveled to the west coast, but it was nice nonetheless. It was such a peaceful moment. The silence wasn't awkward at all. It was quite comforting. They just watched the sunset come down onto a horizon that was split by land and sea.

When the sun had gone down, they returned to the inn. They had dinner brought to their room. As they were waiting, Dark Pit noted that the bed had been thoroughly cleaned. He liked that.

"That was fun," Aria said as she came back from the women's dressing area. She had returned into her dress.

"Yeah," Dark Pit said.

"You know," Aria said. "You're not so bad."

"Hmm?" Dark Pit said from his relaxed position on the floor next to the bed.

"You can be quite nice. And fun."

"I guess."

"You know, we got off on the wrong foot."

"Do you like saying 'you know'?"

"Whatever."

"Go on."

"I'm just trying to say that you're not all that bad."

Dark Pit smiled genuinely. "Thanks."

With that, they went to bed.


	23. New Enemies, Old Enemies

Chapter 22: New Enemies, Old Enemies

Aria and Dark Pit left the next day. Dark Pit wanted to get to their goal. He needed to collect the Underworld keys as soon as possible. With all the crap that had gone down on that mission, he wanted to be done with it and move on with his life.

He walked on, pondering the pieces of the quest. His past was the most perplexing piece of the puzzle. He didn't like how a mystery had crept into his past. He was so young that a shrouded past shouldn't even be in his description. A person who would only be a small child under normal circumstances, though his birth was far from normal, shouldn't have that kind of weight in their life.

He looked at Aria. She was definitely the best thing that had happened to him on the entire trip. He didn't know how it had happened, but he'd found a companion he could trust in her. He thought it was rather amazing that he could go from considering her extra baggage to seeing her as a partner. He liked that. He hadn't warmed up to anyone like that since…

_Lilia,_ he thought.

He stopped. He took stock of the surroundings. The beach was on his right. The tropical forest was on his left. There was nothing to take cover behind. That wasn't good. Dark Pit felt that something was out of order. Something evil was approaching.

"Draw the bow I gave you," he ordered Aria. She sensed the urgency in his tone and obeyed. Dark Pit opened his coat and drew his sword. He summoned the blade as he dropped his supplies.

Dark Pit turned his head back and forth. The air was too still. The sky too clear. The sun too bright. Everything felt wrong. Then he heard the whizz of something moving very fast.

"Move!" he yelled. A dark purple bolt landed where Aria and Dark Pit had just been standing. The sky suddenly filled with Monoeyes. They were everywhere. Aria drew and started shooting. Monoeyes fell from the sky in droves. Dark Pit was using his bows new long distance ability. Blue and gold bolts caused Monoeyes to rain from the sky.

"What is this?!" Aria yelled at him.

"No idea!" he answered. "Just shoot! Don't get hit!"

They fought back to back, sending angelic bolts into the sky. The Monoeyes couldn't hold a candle to their fire. Aria and Dark Pit fought in unison. They dodged bolts and came back together. They never left each other's sides. They refused to get separated.

That's when the one-eyed slime things showed up.

"Crap!" Dark Pit yelled.

They adjusted the pattern of attack. They shot the new enemies. But, the dynamics of the engagement had shifted. The numbers were beginning to overwhelm them. The enemies were closing in, and they were being surrounded. Then, all the enemies stopped.

Dark Pit and Aria brandished their weapons. The enemy crowd parted. A man wearing a black outfit stepped forward. The lower half of his face was masked. His hair was dark and his eyes menacing. There was no cloak or cloth adorning his outfit. There was a red orb hanging from his belt.

"Hello there," the man said, his voice smooth.

"Who are you?!" Dark Pit demanded.

"I am here to stop you."

"How do you plan to do that?"

"I have an army. Plus, my skill with my weapon here," he patted his orb, "is enough to kill anyone."

Dark Pit summoned his wind. "Why are you after us?"

"I am an agent of the shadows. You have the ability to restore the gods. My master cannot allow that."

"Who is your master?"

"If I told you that, the fun would be spoiled."

"Fair enough."

Dark Pit lunged at the new enemy. He used wind to boost his speed. The man in black dodged his attack. The Monoeyes and slime things resumed their attack. Dark Pit made his way back to Aria. They started fighting back to back again. As they rotated, Aria took out airborne threats while Dark Pit used his weapon to attend to the enemies on the ground.

"Can you handle yourself?" Dark Pit asked.

"Yeah," Aria responded. Dark Pit hoped that she spoke true.

Dark Pit broke through the enemies that surrounded them and approached the man, who had been standing back and watching.

"Decided to ditch your little girlfriend?" the man asked confidently.

"She can handle herself," Dark Pit shot back.

"One can only hope."

The man removed the red orb that he'd been carrying. He held it at arm's length and pointed it at Dark Pit. The orb lit on fire and consumed the man's arm. Dark Pit now knew that the orb was actually a Burning Palm.

_Great, something else I have to deal with,_ he thought. Dark Pit shot forward using a wind strike. The man deftly dodged back and started a continuous hail of fire. The homing ability on the palm made it difficult for Dark Pit go back on to the offensive. He dodged each bolt by a hairs breadth. He knew he couldn't keep this up for long. If he tired even a little bit, the bolts would start hitting, and it would be very difficult to fight with stinging burns.

Dark Pit charged up energy in his weapon. He jumped extra hard and lowered his weapon at the man. He released the charged bolt, and a large gold light shot towards the man. The man countered with a charged blast of his own. Dark Pit's shot canceled the man's shot, and the man jumped out of the way.

Dark Pit started releasing golden bolts in a continuous hail. Now the man in black was on the defensive. Dark Pit moved towards his target with as much speed as he could muster. He needed to get within range to bring the engagement to an end.

The man realized what Dark Pit was trying to do, and moved towards Dark Pit in order to meet him head on. Dark Pit released his volley and charged. He swung at the man's head. The man blocked with a melee strike from the hand that the palm was on. Dark Pit sparred with the man with the enemies raging around him.

They exchanged a few injuries. Dark Pit put a few good cuts on the man, but he received a few nasty burns in return. He needed to break the stalemate. He summoned wind to his blade as he fought. When he gathered enough energy, he jumped backwards from the man and slammed his blade into the ground. As he did so, a massive shockwave of wind exploded from around Dark Pit, knocking the man on his butt.

Dark Pit took a, 'shoot first and ask questions later approach,' to conclude the fight. He switched the way he held his blade to a reverse-wield style. He jumped at the man as he was on the ground. As he came down he brought the sword in front of him. Once he hit the ground he slammed his sword through the man's chest.

Dark Pit back-flipped off of his target. The man died instantly. The fire that had surrounded his arm condensed back into the orb it had been before he'd used it. The battle, however, wasn't over.

"Aaaaahhhh!" Dark Pit heard. He didn't think. He just acted. He grabbed the orb and fused it with his sword. The energy that flooded into his sword was immense. He released everything he had at the sky. The Monoeyes fell by the dozen, burning like roasting marshmallows. He charged towards where Aria was.

He slew the enemies in blazing glory. He had to reach her. She was his companion. He couldn't let her die. He didn't allow his friends to die. It took a little effort, but he managed to roast every enemy there within a minute.

He rushed to where Aria was lying on the ground. He made sure to check her injuries. Her leg was broken no doubt. But she wasn't dead, nor was she dying. That was a huge relief to Dark Pit. He gently picked her up and moved to find a spot to camp.


	24. Making the Pieces Fit

Chapter 23: Making the Pieces Fit

Dark Pit woke after the surprise attack the day before. He was still surprised about that. It was lucky the Burning Palm he picked up from that man was so powerful. Speaking of which, how did that man wield that weapon? Most humans couldn't even see angelic weapons. There were exceptions of course. Magnus was a great example. There were also those criminals he'd destroyed a few days earlier. But that still didn't explain how that man could actually use the weapon. No human he knew of could.

Unless… _There's a dark force at work here. Much darker than Hades._ The night the gods disappeared came to mind. The force he'd felt, it was easily powerful enough to arm humans with angelic weaponry. He wondered if his mission would cause him to clash with this power. He didn't want to find out. There was only one way to bring down a force that powerful. A: Have all the gods on your side. B: Work with _him._

That put him on an entirely different line of unpleasant thought. He could feel his deep hatred of the other angel rising. He still didn't know the exact story behind why he hated Pit so much. That was one of the worst parts: Not knowing his own past.

A thought troubled him. He remembered that time when Pit was a ring. He had fallen into a state of nothingness. It was as if he didn't even exist. _Crap, how can I kill him and not myself?_ He berated himself for not thinking of this earlier. However, he examined his connection with the angel. It told him that Pit was far away. Then he remembered something. When Pit had nearly died after the Chaos Kin, the connection was nearly strong enough to transport a soul through.

_That's how I'll kill him!_ If he could make Pit nearly die, then he could absorb Pit's soul and become the only Pit in existence. He liked that idea a lot. Besides, it would free him from going through another incident like the one with the ring. If there was only one Pit, then he wouldn't be affected by the actions of the other.

Deep inside, even if he wouldn't admit it consciously, he knew that his thoughts were irrational and wrong. But the emotion overrode these truths that were deep within him. All he felt was the hurt and anger.

He finally forced himself to get up. He'd been consumed by dark thoughts long enough. He turned his head to the west. The dawn was red, and the sun had not yet risen. He didn't mind. The sunrise would give him rest from the dark thoughts that had just clouded his head. He wanted a clear head. That's how he would move forward.

He heard Aria stir. He looked at her for a little bit. She had been laid out perfectly flat on her back. Her leg was elevated onto a large rock that Dark Pit had moved there specifically for her. Her leg was swollen badly. The break was bad. Dark Pit had already done everything he could to ease the wound. All he could do now was hope that there wasn't infection. If there wasn't a miracle around the corner, she could die from such a serious injury.

He turned his head back to the dawn. The first rays of the sun were peaking up over the horizon. The horizon was still split by the land and sea, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He watched the sun as it came up. He felt peace wash through him as the day dawned. He enjoyed it.

The moan that came from Aria reminded him that he had a serious problem on his hands. She was waking up; and she was in pain. He walked over to her. He bent down and looked at the leg. It was still red and very swollen. Luckily, the break wasn't bad enough to have pierced the skin.

Dark Pit moved out to go find materials for a new splint. The one he had erected for her when they went to bed last night was already coming apart. If that happened, her injury would only get worse. He didn't have to go very far from the coast to get what he needed. He used the knife end of his sword to carve out the pieces for what he needed.

He got back just as Aria was waking up.

"Ooohhh," she moaned.

"Hurts?" Dark Pit asked with concern.

"Bad," was the teethed reply.

"Sorry," Dark Pit said. "I should have protected you better."

"I knew the risk when I told you I could handle myself. Aahh!"

Dark Pit was gingerly setting her foot onto the ground from the rock. Obviously, he couldn't prevent her from feeling the pain. He then began to carefully remove the original makeshift splint. He could tell that as he removed the original splint, the bone would have to be set better. _Crap, _he muttered in his head. _I don't want to have to hurt her even more._

"Aria," he said. "The bone set wasn't good enough; I'm going to have to set it again. This is going to hurt."

She gulped and paled, but gave him the O.K. Dark Pit grabbed the leg as gingerly as he could. He heard her inhale through her teeth in pain. Then he broke the bone again and set it in the same motion. Aria screamed bloody murder. It hurt Dark Pit to hear her scream so loud. He didn't like her in pain. He quickly put the new splint in. He made sure to make it better that time.

"I'm so sorry," he said.

"It had to be done," she said, exhausted.

"We have to go. If we stay here, that injury could develop an infection and kill you."

She visibly paled. However, as she had said before, she knew what had to be done. Dark Pit walked over to her and gingerly picked her up. She let out several cries of pain, but nothing like when he had set it. He felt tears fall on his neck. It must have hurt extremely bad. He'd never seen Aria cry.

They traveled at a slow pace for the day. Aria was always letting out one whimper of pain or another. He hated being powerless to stop the pain. That's all he wanted to do: stop her pain. He needed her by his side.

The distance they covered was only half of what they did in a normal day. Dark Pit thought that that was actually overkill. If Aria had let him, he would have stopped far earlier for her sake. But she didn't, and they traveled until sunset.

He laid her out on the sand of the beach for the night. Her face was streaked with tears. Dark Pit admired her strength. She let the world know she was in pain, but she also took the brunt of it quite well.

His heart throbbed, looking at her like that. Without even realizing it, he had attached to her. She had become a friend. He still wondered about how that happened. However, being alone with a person for an extended period of time can do that. It may have been only a week, if that, but it was _only_ them. True, he had stopped at Richard's, and there was the ocean village, but it had still been them.

"You're spacing out," she told him.

"I'm sorry. What do you need?"

"Nothing right now. I just need someone to talk to."

"Well I'm here."

"Good."

"What can I do to ease the pain?"

"Just keep talking."

"Ummmmm, what about?"

"I don't know, just talk."

He thought for a second. His memory twinged. "I may have been through something like this before."

"You've broken your leg?"

"No, but I've cared for someone who did."

"When?"

Now he had to think. He thought and thought and thought and thought. When the white started coming over his eyes, he knew where it had come from.

_Lilia was sitting in her room, her leg broken from a horse riding accident, of all things. Dark Pit had been her maid for the past two weeks. Her leg would still be broken for some time, but, at this point, it was clear that she would live through the incident. It was a relief to Dark Pit, as their relationship had really been taking off._

_He loved her. He knew it with everything he had in him that she was the one. There would be no other. She was nothing like him, to be sure. She was social, bright, and very energetic. Dark Pit was anti-social, pessimistic in many cases, and just had a normal energy level. But she was magnetic. He couldn't get enough of her._

_He moved out of the house and looked at the woods. They were calm and peaceful, as usual._

"_Hey, Dark Pit!" he heard. Dark Pit turned and saw a man of average height and build coming towards him. He had brown eyes and hair. His face was average, but friendly looking. He had an aura wisdom about him, despite only being a teenager._

"_Hey Ladon," Dark Pit said back._

"_How is she?" Ladon asked. Ladon had been childhood friends with Lilia. They were as close as siblings. Ladon, seeing Lilia as a sister, highly approved of Dark Pit's relationship to her. He was excited for Dark Pit and Lilia, especially after seeing how happy the two made each other._

"_She's in pain, but it's not as bad as it was a week ago."_

"_That's good." There was a pause here. "So how are things between you two?"_

"_Remember the dancing incident a few weeks ago?" Dark Pit asked._

"_Good Lord, I never thought you two would get past that."_

"_Well we did, and we're more in love now than ever."_

"_Never thought I'd hear those words come from your lips."_

"_There is no denying the truth."_

"_This is true my friend, this is true."_

"_In fact, I asked her father yesterday."_

_Ladon's eyes went wide. "You actually got the guts to do it?!"_

"_Yeah, but that was the easy part. Now I've got to ask her."_

"_Let me see it."_

_Dark Pit sat there for a minute._

"_Look," Ladon said, "if you asked her father you must have it. I want to see it."_

_Dark Pit pulled a box out of his pocket. Ladon grabbed it and opened it. Inside the box was a golden ring with leaves wrought into the design. Embedded in the top was a beautiful, midnight-blue sapphire._

"_You are going to have a hard time finding a wedding band to beat this," Ladon said._

"_I know," Dark Pit replied. "I had to do two weeks' worth of _very_ dangerous missions in order to pay for that."_

"_So when are you going to ask her?"_

"_After her leg gets better."_

_Ladon looked at him very seriously. "I am extremely happy for the two of you. But you must treat her right. She is more fragile than she looks. The absence of a mother has hurt her. Love her for as long as you two are together."_

_Dark Pit smiled at his friend. "I will."_

Dark Pit woke up. Only a second had gone by for this flashback. Aria had a knowing look on her face. She'd clearly guessed that he'd had another flashback.

"Did she break her leg once?" Aria asked.

"Yeah," Dark Pit said. "I remember it so clearly because we'd just had an ugly argument a few weeks before. But we repaired the damage. I was actually going to propose."

Dark Pit got a melancholy look. He didn't like getting all mushy. But he just couldn't help it. The memories flooding in kept him going. His memories were so full of feeling. But he shook it off.

"Why didn't you?" Aria asked him.

"I think I did," Dark Pit replied, almost emptily. "Or, I tried. I don't remember how it went."

There was a silence. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't be. It's in the past."

Dark Pit then went to bed.


	25. Rising to a Boil

Chapter 24: Rising to a Boil

It had been another slow day of travel. Aria's leg was causing enormous misery between the two of them. Dark Pit's muscles had gone sore from carrying her for two days straight. She may not have been fat, but she wasn't light as a feather, either. Even Dark Pit, with his angel muscles, couldn't deal with 130 to 150 pounds of weight for that long.

Dark Pit slumped down after he set Aria on the ground. He was tired. He pulled out his pack and rummaged through it. He pulled out the sword and knives he had confiscated for Aria. He couldn't believe that he'd forgotten to give them to her. Oh well, he could do it now.

"Aria," he said.

"Yes," she said, looking at him.

"I forgot to give you some things." He took the knives and sword and gave them to Aria.

She held them up and examined them. The knives were simple, but very well made. The sword had a broadsword-like hilt, but the blade was thin and serrated near the hilt. The metal was very high quality. Dark Pit could actually compare it to some of the metals used in angelic weapons. However, there was no angelic power in this sword.

"I actually remember you mentioning that you had at least one knife," she stated.

"Yeah, but things happened," he replied. "Training you on the Palutena Bow took up all of my attention. And then there was the flashback."

"I remember that, too."

"Anyway," Dark Pit began, "you will need to train with the sword when your leg heals."

"Ugh, don't remind me about that. It still hurts like heck, you know."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence. Dark Pit didn't know what to say. Aria didn't either. They had already eaten, so there wasn't anything to detract from the silence. The awkward increased, and increased, and increased. Right about when it got unbearable, Aria broke the silence.

"So what do you think of me?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Dark Pit countered, perplexed.

"Do you like me?"

"Yeah. You're a good person to be around. You are forgiving and trustworthy. I can't think of any reason why we wouldn't be friends."

"But do you _like_ me?"

Dark Pit was caught off guard. He wasn't expecting that question at all. Did he like her like that? His feelings were a little muddled by recent events. However, there was definitely something there. He just couldn't tell whether it was _like_ or strong friendship.

Finally, he said, "Um, why? Do you?"

Aria was silent for a moment. And then she nodded yes. Now Dark Pit was in trouble. He'd have to sort out his feelings really quick in order to avoid hurting her. He thought about some of the things they'd done together. Being alone had helped it, and training with her, and sharing his personal issues. Ultimately, he trusted her more than he'd trust a friend.

"Yes," he said. "I like you. It's still muddled for me, but I definitely have feelings for you. This is the first time since _her."_

Aria's face brightened considerably. And then she remembered her leg. Yeah, that needed fixing. Even though there wasn't much they could do, Dark Pit knew that sleeping would help.

"Let's go to bed," he said. "Sleep will help us."

Aria nodded the affirmative and they both drifted off.

* * *

Dark Pit woke up feeling a true shock. Pit was near. He could not deny this. His twin sense told him it was true. His chance for revenge was close at hand. Dark Pit rose without even questioning what he was getting revenge for. All he felt was the desire to kill the angel once and for all. And he knew how to do it. He looked east and noticed that he'd missed the sunrise.

He got Aria up.

"What's going on?" she asked sleepily.

"He's here," was the icy reply.

"Who?" she asked, sleepiness replaced with concern.

"Why do you hate him so badly?"

"We've been over this. It has to do with Lilia."

Aria went silent. There was now an ominous silence. Dark Pit felt that his exhaustion was gone. All he felt was rage. Pure, unadulterated rage. Hatred had a strong presence as well. Dark Pit felt his fire rise. It burned with an extreme passion. He brought out his Silver Sword and let the blades loose. He didn't know when he'd meet Pit, but once he did, he'd be prepared.

He wordlessly picked up Aria, still carefully, despite his rage, and began walking west. Aria gave Dark Pit some good news when she told him that the key that they were after was near. According to her, it was only a few hours away. He wanted to get that key before he moved to kill Pit.

He walked on at full speed, stepping so as not to jostle Aria's leg. That was the last thing he wanted to do. She didn't complain, either. Obviously, she was doing better. Plus, Dark Pit was good at being speedy but careful.

They reached a place near a valley opening. There was a nice progression from forest to grass to beach to ocean. It all happened in about 200 feet. Dark Pit could sense Pit's presence getting closer all of a sudden. Apparently, he'd just started moving. All the better, it gave Dark Pit some time to prepare.

Meanwhile, he used Aria's sight to guide him to where the key was. She almost took him into the ocean while looking for that key. However, just before he entered the area affected by the tide, Aria told him that the key was right under their feet.

He gently set her down about ten feet away and then bared his blade at the spot she'd mentioned. He summoned the control of wind that he'd acquired so long before. He forced into a vortex that lifted the sand clear off the spot Aria had told him to dig. He then blew the kicked up dirt east, away from Aria. When he was done, he looked into the hole. There was a black chest, decorated with underworld symbols.

He jumped into the hole and lifted the chest out. The lock was a picture of the underworld eye symbol with the keyhole in the iris. He didn't have the key, but that wouldn't matter much. He jammed the blade into the crack between the chest's body and its lid. He then lit his blade on fire and melted his way through the lock. He then opened the chest up.

What he saw was an underworld key marked III. Now he had three of them in his possession. V, II, and III were all in his hands, meaning that the only two left were I and IV. He could feel the end of a phase of the mission in sight. Now all he had to do was put an end to Pit.


	26. Battle of Fate

Chapter 25: Battle of Fate

Dark Pit sat patiently as he waited for the approach of his enemy. He was sitting in the grassy area half way between the forest and the sand. He could feel Pit drawing closer as he sat there. He couldn't tell where Pit would come from. It could be the south, east, or west. He had no idea where the attack came from. He just wanted to be ready when the angel finally did show up. It all had come down to this. He suddenly felt Pit stop. It made Dark Pit go crazy. He was ready to fight right then.

Aria was sitting in a scrub not far away. She was, however, far enough away that the blast zone of the powers that would inevitably be thrown about in the battle would not touch her. With her broken leg, she couldn't afford any more trauma. Aside from getting revenge for whatever Pit had done to Lilia, Aria's safety was one of his top concerns. He couldn't allow her to get hurt any more than she had already been.

He reached over the connection. He was careful to ensure that Pit wouldn't feel his touch. He was looking for something very specific. He needed to know when Pit would attack. In order to do that, he needed to feel Pit's intentions. He softly smiled to himself when his probe met success. Dark Pit felt Pit sitting there, looking for people. Maybe Pit was looking for Magnus and Gaol. Maybe he was even looking for Aria. Dark Pit didn't care about that. He was just waiting for the attack.

Suddenly, he felt movement. He couldn't tell where Pit was moving to, but he could tell that Pit's intention was to get a better vantage point for some sort of surprise attack. He could also sense Pit's curiosity as to the location of Dark Pit's allies.

Dark Pit grew bored of this waiting. He summoned his will power and prepared to project a mental message. He thought with all of his might, while opening the connection as wide as he could, and thought, _I'm alone, come face me._ In this message, he conveyed the true honesty of what he was saying. He wanted Pit to understand that he truly was alone so that the fight could begin.

He was happy when he felt Pit considering the proposition. He relished the coming opportunity. He felt that Pit was conferring with his friends. _Hmph, let them all come. They won't stand in my way._ He had only eyes for putting an end to his rival once and for all.

Dark Pit stood as he felt Pit accept the challenge. He brandished his weapon in no apparent direction. He braced for the attack that would soon come.

Dark Pit felt a twinge. He had about half a second to react. A massive forward-charged shot ripped by him as he twisted and faced the direction it had come from. A number of trees had fallen from the force, and they had given Dark Pit a clear line of sight to his foe. Without waiting, he summoned the wind from his blade to increase the speed of his charge. He closed in and prepared to jab the sword straight through Pit's heart. That annoying Somewhat staff countered his strike two feet before it hit home. He felt Pit push, and Dark Pit parried the barrage of melee strikes. Dark Pit jumped back out of the clearing.

"Hello again," Dark Pit said casually.

"Hello yourself," Pit said, teeth gritted, aggression evident. "This time will be different."

"Ooh, someone's got fire. I must have really done a number on you for you to be so aggressive."

Dark Pit raised his blade and used his wind power to absorb a blast of wind that came from somewhere behind Pit. Dark Pit heard feet land behind him. He turned to see a young demigod wielding a sword with a wicked looking curve. Dark Pit recognized him as one of the demigods who was with Pit in the cave. The boy had a color of hair between brown and black, and quite messy. His eyes were light blue, and held the same aggressive fire that Pit had attacked with.

The demigod seemed surprised that Dark Pit had absorbed the wind blast. Dark Pit didn't allow the newcomer time to be shocked. He charged in with a series of furious blows. He could tell that he was severely testing the boy's skills. He used wind to bolster his attacks, and the boy was increasingly shocked by his inability to dispel Dark Pit's wind.

He heard footsteps coming in. Dark Pit used a blast of wind to knock the boy on his butt and turned to face the new threat. It was the blond girl (_Vinnia, was it?_) that he had seen in the cave during the last battle. She had lance leveled at him and was closing fast. He sidestepped the blow and moved close. He knocked her in the side of his head with the flat of his blade. He was here to kill Pit, not Pit's companions.

Dark Pit immediately backed up, but Vinnia surprised him when she bounced back up, only a little dazed. This girl was tougher than she looked. At the same time, the boy had gotten up and was charging him. Dark Pit could hear Pit charging from behind him as well. Dark Pit gave a small smirk. When the boy was only a second from hitting him, Dark Pit used his Power of Flight to high-jump out of the way.

Dark Pit looked where Pit had come from. He could see a third demigod (at least, he assumed she was a demigod) hiding behind a rock. He landed and heard, "Sorry!" being yelled from behind him. Apparently, Pit had nearly been skewered behind him. Dark Pit glanced at the girl again. She seemed unarmed. In a more desperate situation, a hostage would come in handy. However, Pit was the target, and a hostage wouldn't give Dark Pit any satisfaction from killing Pit.

He heard movement from behind him. The frantic pace told Dark Pit that Pit had suddenly become desperate about something. He stepped aside at the last second, and watched Pit nearly trip over himself as he tried to cancel the failed melee strike.

Dark Pit decided to show off his new long range strike. He leveled his sword at Pit and summoned a charged shot. The golden orb hovered on the end of the blade as Pit turned to face him. He smirked as he prepared to fire the shot, as the opposing angel had yet to fully reacquire his bearings.

Movement from behind him caused Dark Pit to curse to himself. He released the shot just as some sort of flexible wood hit him in the arm. The shot was pulled, and sailed off into the sky. He turned, grabbed the wood, and yanked down with all his strength. The lance was yanked out of Vinnia's hands. The force of Dark Pit's grab sent the lance over his shoulder.

The boy sent a blast of wind that was intended to knock Dark Pit off his feet. Dark Pit responded by sending a blade of wind through the enemy gust. The enemy wind was dispersed, but the boy dived out of the way. Dark Pit summoned a wind cyclone to contain the boy before he could get back up. He then contracted it to keep the boy pinned to the ground.

Vinnia was summoning branches and vines to try and create a shield. Dark Pit charged before she could complete it. He immediately used his free hand to punch her in the head, hard. He wanted to be sure that she stayed down this time. Dark Pit kicked her in the stomach in order to finish the job.

Dark Pit felt a twinge as the boy somehow managed to slip the trap. He turned his attention to the boy, who almost on his feet. At the same time, he looked at Pit, who was ready to charge. He then heard a ferocious war-cry. He turned to see the girl from earlier charging at him. She had black hair that was done into a pony tail that hung over one of her shoulders. Her blue eyes held intense fire and her blue dress didn't seem to slow her down. Dark Pit felt a surge of supernatural power coming from her and immediately pegged her as the biggest threat.

He summoned fire to his blade as he charged. He leveled the sword in front of him as he ran and released a column of flame, trying to push the girl down. The girl summoned a massive wall of water, and Dark Pit's fire was blocked. Dark Pit let off the attack and closed the rest of the distance between him and the wall. He then swung his blade at the wall while re-summoning and releasing enormous amounts of flame. He intended to overpower the girl's water-based defense.

Dark Pit won. The water wall abruptly fell and Dark Pit's blade grazed something. When the steam cleared, the girl had fainted. There was a nasty gash on her forehead, but the damage was superficial.

He didn't get much time to look at the girl. He heard a terrible war-cry come from behind him. To his eternal shock, Vinnia had gotten up. The banshee-like scream hurt his ears as the enraged girl prepared something new. She raised her fist and slammed it into the ground. Dark Pit was thrown off his feet as the earth itself responded in a massive tremor. Dark Pit could hear trees crash and rocks tumble in the mountain range as he tried to get back up.

Dark Pit came to his senses as the girl was charging at him. She had somehow retrieved her lance. Her eyes were more murderous than his own desire for revenge. He raised his sword just in time to deflect the first strike. Dark Pit parried blow after blow. He was able to avoid serious damage, but was dismayed to feel blood oozing from several stinging areas as he continued to parry. Without warning, the butt of the lance hit him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

He fell to the ground, dazed and certain that he was going to die right then and there. He nearly faded into a flashback as he felt his life begin to flash before his eyes. He avoided the flashback, though. However, there was no cold emptiness. The embrace of death had eluded Dark Pit. He slowly opened his eyes. He saw nothing but brown blur. He stood up and forced himself to focus. However, he was still swaying like a drunkard.

He managed to focus just in time to see Vinnia say something to Pit. It was unintelligible to Dark Pit, but that didn't matter. He was already moving in fast. He didn't release a war cry. He moved as silently as he possibly could. Vinnia was just barely turning around when Dark Pit's left fist collided with her face. Dark Pit then took an ugly swing at Pit's head. Pieces of brown hair fell to the ground as Pit came up from his roll.

Dark Pit moved in and struck. Pit used the staff's length in order to ward off the furious blows that Dark Pit was sending in. Pit was somehow able to slip Dark Pit's defenses and Dark PIt had to jump back to avoid getting impaled. Pit held his staff out and it was surrounded in a pink glow. Dark Pit had almost no time to get his sword into a position where he could guard. Pit came in with a massive melee attack. Dark Pit had to severely strain every muscle in his body in order to avoid being thrown a hundred feet back by the force of Pit's swing.

Dark Pit heard the boy making one final attack from behind him. Rather than use the opening of Pit's exhaustion to kill the angel (and by extension, lose his own life to the demigod behind him), Dark Pit turned and used his blade to firmly block the incoming blade of wind. He then charged the boy. After a series of blows, Dark Pit was able to hit the boy in the side of the head with the flat of the Silver Sword.

Dark Pit turned to face Pit, who was now his only concern. Pit had just recovered from the initial exhaust of using that melee move. The two angels stared each other down. They were both at their limit, and had no help coming.

"What happened to you?" Pit asked. "I thought we were at a truce. I thought I could trust you! And where are Magnus and Gaol?"

"Things happened," Dark Pit said darkly. "You are a thorn in my side. You have caused me pain and agony in more ways than even I know."

"What do you mean, more ways than you know?!"

"My heart has suffered terrible wounds because of you. I must have the satisfaction of ending your life."

"Are you crazy?! We are linked! If I die, you'll die too!"

Dark Pit smirked. "There is a way around that. I can use the link to merge your soul with mine. When I kill you, I will be the only Pit. Your soul will be doomed to wander around in the darkness of repression within me."

Pit's face took a look of horror. "How could you say something so sick?! Wasn't it you who said that eating souls was a sick thing to do?! You can't have gone back on that!"

"I must put an end to you!"

"I should be telling you that!" was the angry response. "You've hurt my friends! Zephynn, Raven, Vinnia…they're all innocent in this! I dragged them into this. And where's Aria?"

"You make no sense. And don't change the subject!"

"I need to know whether or not she's safe! I have to!"

"She's no longer my prisoner. She follows me of her own free will. She's not far from here."

"You say that as if there's something wrong."

"Her leg is injured. I made sure to move her away from where the fight would be. Unlike you, I make sure that innocent bystanders stay safe!" Dark Pit's voice rose in intensity as he was saying this. He sent the final words out at a yell. He then charged Pit.

It was right then that a sickening sensation entered his head. He faltered as he ran, feeling nausea. He heard the final cry he'd yelled at Pit echo through his head. Where had that come from? Dark Pit fell to his knees as he grabbed his head. Confusing images were careening through it. He saw roses, a smoking town, storm clouds, a grave. He heard screams and shouts of people who weren't there. Death cries and the bellows of monsters filled his head.

Dark Pit lurched forward as the white filled his eyes. He was entering the most pivotal flashback of them all.


	27. Scars of the Past

Chapter 26: Scars of the Past

WARNING! Extremely sad chapter ahead! You will cry (I know I did).

_Dark Pit was out in the forest, collecting flowers. He was getting ready to propose to Lilia, and he wanted to hide the ring in a bouquet of wildflowers. He was looking around for the best ones to use. It was difficult, as there weren't a lot of good flowers in the forest._

_ His thoughts drifted towards where Lilia was. She'd gone into town for reasons Dark Pit couldn't remember. All he knew was that he only had an hour or two to gather the flowers and get home. He wanted to be waiting for her when she got back. He actually wanted to take off the road that led to the house and propose to her on the shore of a beautiful lake he'd found. It'd be perfect, as the full moon would be rising over the lake just as he went to ask her._

_ Suddenly, he found something that was perfect. There was a rose bush that was deep in the forest. Better yet, they were multi-colored. Dark Pit picked a blue one out and inspected it. The color would go with Lilia's hair perfectly. He immediately set out to pick the bluest one. He made sure to get them all. Blue roses were a rarity._

_ Dark Pit walked through the forest at a casual pace. He'd hide the ring in the bouquet once he hit the road. He'd finished in plenty of time. He mentally went over possibilities of what he'd say. None of them seemed good enough to convey the love he felt for her._

_ And it was love that he felt. There was no denying it. Lilia was _the_ one. He loved her with all his heart. It felt like she was another piece to him. She wasn't anything like him, but that's why he loved her. She completed the missing pieces he had._

_ He hit the road and looked up. He still had about a half-an-hour of light left. That would be plenty of time to put the bouquet together. He sat on the road and took out a tie he'd brought with him. He carefully put the roses together and tied them. He held up his handiwork to the fading sunlight. Yep, he'd done it perfectly. Now all that was left was to put the ring…_

_ Dark Pit's eyes widened as he scanned the horizon in the direction he was looking at. There was black smoke on it. His heart nearly leapt out of his chest when he remembered that the town was in that direction. Lilia could be in trouble._

_ Dark Pit immediately leapt up and dashed off in the direction of the town. He hoped it was nothing major, but something in his heart told him that he wasn't going to like what he found. The bouquet was still in his hand._

_ After nearly ten minutes, the town came in sight. There were Monoeyes floating above it. Dark Pit's heart sank when he saw a reapers head. He could also see the characteristic flash of an angelic weapon. Pit was helping quell the attack. Dark Pit would join the angel in fending off the attack. He needed to in order to protect Lilia._

_ Dark Pit drew his silver bow and charged in, the bouquet forgotten on the ground behind him. He still had the ring in a pouch at his waist. He moved through the gate and was immediately confronted by the reaper. _Joy_, he thought to himself._

_ The reaper had seen him, so there was no sneaking around it. The crazed beast was already charging at Dark Pit, releasing reapettes as it went. Dark Pit broke his bow in two and used the knives to keep the reapettes off him. He moved steadily closer to the cloaked monster. Dark Pit jumped over the wide swipe that the reaper took with its scythe. Dark Pit put his bow back together and fired a charged shot at the reaper's face. It didn't like that. _

_The creature began attacking faster. Dark Pit was hard pressed to dodge the massive weapon as it came in with the reaper's lightning speed. But Dark Pit didn't take the barrage sitting down. He was constantly shooting arrows into the reaper's body. Soon, its cloak had more holes than a crouched blanket (Author's Note, it's a blanket made from yarn. It has a lot of holes in it). The reaper was getting weaker. Dark Pit backed off a few paces and then charged forward with a strong dash attack. The arrow hit the reaper right between the eyes. The monster fell back and disappeared in a puff of smoke._

_ Dark Pit slumped over, exhausted. The reaper was a tough enemy. However, it seemed to be the only one there. Dark Pit looked up and saw a blue glow headed towards the sky. Pit had obviously beaten off the rest of the attackers._

_ Relief was rapidly replaced with concern. He immediately moved through the town, looking for his soon-to-be fiancée. He had to ensure her safety. That's all that mattered to him. He had nearly reached the town center before his search turned up any results._

_ Dark Pit yelled as he saw Ladon limping around. He was clutching his side, which was bleeding badly._

_ "Ladon!" he called. Ladon turned to face Dark Pit. His eyes seemed nearly devoid of life._

_ "Dark Pit," he called weakly._

_ Dark Pit rushed over to his friend, and helped support Ladon once he reached his side._

_ "What happened?" Dark Pit asked, concerned._

_ "Monsters came from nowhere... We were... lucky... angel... appeared."_

_ "Pit?"_

_ "Yeah, him."_

_ "Where's Lilia?" Dark Pit asked, his concern for the girl shining through like a billboard. He slowly pointed a finger at the square._

_ "There."_

_ Dark Pit nodded and began moving towards the square. He wasn't far from it, but it took some time to get there, as he needed to help Ladon move. Dark Pit, meanwhile, was praying to every god he knew of the Lilia was OK._

_ He reached the center and had to choke back tears at what he saw. It was full of bodies. Men, women, children, all had died in this senseless massacre. So many innocent lives lost. So much youth and potential destroyed. Dark Pit questioned why such evil would be present in the world. Innocence was a gift that no one deserved to have taken from them. Dark Pit's life as a mercenary had taught him that._

_ "No!" he yelled when he caught sight of a blue-haired head. He gently set Ladon down and ran over to where his beloved was. She was alive._

_ Dark Pit bent over her and lifted her head into his lap ever so carefully. He looked at her stomach. The sight made him sick. There was a nasty wound in the center. It was oozing blood. Dark Pit had to find a way to stop it. He looked closely and saw that the edges of the wound were scorched._

_ "Lilia," he called softly, choking back tears._

_ Her eyelids lifted weakly. "Dark…Pit?"_

_ "It's me. I'm here."_

_ She smiled weakly. "I knew you wouldn't forget me," she wheezed._

_ "Never."_

_ "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll make it."_

_ "Don't think like that," Dark Pit ordered, choking letting a tear slide down his cheek. "We'll get you help. We'll stop this bleeding."_

_ "I always loved how you were always concerned for me."_

_ Dark Pit fumbled with the pouch at his pocked. He pulled out the ring he was going to give her. The sapphire shone in the fading light of the day._

_ "I need to ask you something," Dark Pit said, choking over the words. "I have to know." He showed her the ring. "Will you marry me?"_

_ Her eyes lit up as never before. She smiled the best she could. She had never seemed so happy in her entire life. "Of course," she said with whatever strength she had left._

_ Dark Pit placed the ring on her left ring finger. He held her hand close and kissed it._

_ "Don't die," he pleaded with her. "You have to live so that I can marry you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."_

_ "I know," she said. "I do too."_

_ "Then please! Fight to stay with me!" Dark Pit cried desperately. He was letting more and more tears slip._

_ "Dark Pit," she called as firmly. "We both know how this is going to end. I want you to promise me something."_

_ "What?" Dark Pit croaked, the tears coming freely now._

_ "Promise me that you won't forget who you are in your grief. Promise me that you'll stay you."_

_ "I promise," Dark Pit said with every ounce of resolve he had._

_ She reached up and pulled his head close. She really didn't have the strength to do it, but Dark Pit helped by cooperating. She seemed to be struggling to say something._

_ Before she could, Dark Pit said, "I love you."_

_ "I…love…you…too," Lilia said. As she said, "too," her breath went out and never came back in._

_ Dark Pit bent over her and let the tears fly freely. He stroked the hair out her face even as life left it._

_ "No," he whispered to himself, rapidly losing his composure. "This isn't fair. This isn't right."_

_ He bent over and wept. He then tilted his head back screamed his agony into the oncoming night. The entire town was stopped by the fury of the angel's lament. He wept for the one he loved. He screamed for the future that had been lost. He cried over the hole that was now in his heart. He felt that he would never know love like that again. And so he screamed. He screamed into the sky. He screamed at the unfairness of all the gods watching him. He screamed as the storm clouds gathered and rain began falling. He screamed his agony far into the night. It was morning when his cries finally stopped. He bent over the now cold body of his loved one. The gray sun was just lighting the dark town._

_ "Someone get me a shovel and some blankets," he ordered to no one in particular. "And get me a stone as well."_

_ A villager quickly came bearing the requested supplies. Dark Pit picked up Lilia's body with all the care he had. As he did, he noticed the wound once again. He looked carefully. There was only one kind of weapon that left that kind of mark: Palutena Bow. He didn't have the energy left to be enraged. He merely marched to the town's graveyard, tears still flowing, even if his voice was too hoarse to continue screaming his agony._

_ He took the shovel and had a grave dug in fifteen minutes. No one questioned him. He barely noticed that someone had helped Ladon to the grave site. It was a miracle that he was still alive, given the wound he received._

_ But none of that mattered. All Dark Pit wanted to do was give Lilia the last thing he could possibly give her now: a proper burial. He took the blankets and carefully wrapped them around Lilia. He made sure her arms were crossed over her chest. He put left arm on top, where the ring he had given her was clearly visible. He then finished wrapping her in the blankets and carefully lowered her into the grave. He then filled the grave._

_ He took the headstone and his bow. He carved the most ornate flower design ever seen into the headstone in less than 20 minutes. He then wrote the eulogy._

_Here Lies Lilia Hecatesdaughter_

_A bright cheerful friend and bride-to-be._

_She was loved by all around her._

_ Dark Pit knelt at the grave for hours. The tears hadn't stopped yet, and he wanted to fully pay his respects. He finally got up when the clouds had dispersed and it was nearly midday._

_ As if to mock him, the day was one of the most beautiful that could be seen. He began leaving._

_ "Will you ever come back?" he heard. He turned and saw Lilia's father, George. He looked as if he had grieved nearly as hard as Dark Pit._

_ "Not likely," he responded listlessly. "This is goodbye. I'm sorry I couldn't do more for her."_

_ "You made her happy. That's all that matters now."_

_ Dark Pit turned to leave. "Goodbye." As Dark Pit started walking he thought, _I swear on my life, Pit! You will pay for taking her from me. YOU WILL DIE!

_ For days, Dark Pit wandered around, the pain sinking, as the memory of Lilia's face slowly vanished._

**Author's Note: If you cried as much as did, then I wrote this chapter right. I can't believe I could write something **_**that**_** sad. I had it planned for a long time, but it was still heart-wrenching to write. I hope it explains a lot.**


	28. Reconciliation

Chapter 27: Reconciliation

Dark Pit opened his eyes slowly. He was staring at an afternoon sky. His eyes were still wet with tears from the flashback. He didn't know if he'd ever recover from the heart wrenching emotions he'd felt. He had just relived a moment in his life that he had chosen to forget. Now he knew he'd never forget it. He would carry that pain with him for as long as he lived. His emotions were spent, as was his drive to fight.

He sat up, feeling half alive. He looked around. He saw the group he'd just took on single-handedly crowded around the Somewhat Staff. He had no idea what they were doing, but he didn't care. He wanted to leave without calling attention to himself. He stood and picked up his weapon. He heard movement behind him and felt a lance in the back of his neck.

"Going somewhere," he heard Vinnia's voice behind him.

"Do it," Dark Pit said curtly. "You'd be doing me a favor."

He felt the lance dig a little more into his skin. Warm liquid came from the area.

"I won't let you surprise me," Vinnia replied.

"Vinnia…" came Pit's voice. "Is this really necessary?"

"Don't let him fool you! He's trying to catch you off guard."

Dark Pit stepped forward and turned around. He looked straight into Vinnia's eyes, conveying the emotional emptiness he felt. If there was anything there, it was hurt and pain. The girl was shocked into silence. He turned to leave.

"Let me go," he said. "I have a lot on my mind."

He started walking away. He was hoping he could be done with the stupid conversation. He wanted to be alone. He felt Pit grab him on the shoulder. Dark Pit slapped away Pit's hand.

"What happened to you? Seriously?" the light angel said.

Dark Pit looked Pit in the eyes, letting unadulterated hate shine through. "Think about it. You should know."

Dark Pit walked away, ignoring any and all questions that came from the group behind him. He had to get away. He needed the company of himself. He needed time to get through his pain. He wandered listlessly for the remainder of the day. He was walking west, he knew that much. But he didn't really know where he was.

He was dismayed when he heard the whirring of monoeyes. He summoned his sword. They charged in. He began fighting. It was a half-hearted, pitiful attempt. He had lost his inner fire. He was getting banged up left and right. He didn't mind. He'd welcome the cold embrace of death. If it meant freeing himself of his pain, he'd do it.

He saw what he wanted when a monoeye took aim at him. He was too banged up to dodge it. He knew that was where it would end. He closed his eyes, preparing for a second time that day to die. The blow never fell. Dark Pit cracked his eyes open. He then widened them.

Standing before him was a large man holding a monstrous sword. Dark Pit'd know him anywhere; even he was only looking at the back. It was Magnus. Magnus had just taken the blow that would have killed Dark Pit.

Dark Pit could only stare in shock. Soon, purple energy rained down, sending the monoeyes into chaos and panic. Gaol emerged from the forest. She was shooting a massive barrage of energy bolts. Magnus stepped into the fray, killing left and right. Dark Pit shook off some of his stupor and tried to join the fight. He still wasn't fighting very well, but he now had some drive to live.

The three of them finished the monoeyes in record time.

"Long time no see," Magnus told Dark Pit.

Dark Pit was too stunned to say anything in return.

"Come on, don't be like that," Magnus encouraged.

"Why?" was all Dark Pit could get out. He cleared his throat. "Why did you come back?"

Magnus smiled and looked at him. "We're a team, no matter what happens."

Dark Pit was confused, yet thrilled. Then he slipped back into his melancholy.

"What happened?" Gaol asked him, her armor disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke. "Did you accomplish your goal?"

"No," Dark Pit said weakly. "I likely never will."

Magnus looked thoughtful. "You seem like you've seen something you'd rather forget."

"I had forgotten it. For years, I had forgotten. Now that I remember, I wish I could continue to forget."

Magnus seemed sympathetic. "Hey, put the past behind you. You won't regret it."

Good advice, but Dark Pit was too depressed to heed it. He was lost in the terrible world of his memory. After the flashback, his memory had filled in all the blanks within his flashback. He remembered every detail of his life with Lilia, and the memory of her death made those memories a poison in his heart.

"Come on, we need to get back on course," came Magnus's voice.

Dark Pit looked up. "What?"

"We're still on a mission, aren't we?" Magnus asked.

"I'm not ready."

"What?" Gaol asked him.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm not myself. I need rest."

"What happened?" Magnus asked again.

Dark Pit was a long time in answering. "I met Pit again."

A dread silence fell over the three. Dark Pit remembered very clearly that it was his attitude towards Pit that had driven his partners away in the first place. He didn't need that happening again. Like or not, he needed friends, or he would let death take him. When you're at rock bottom, the only way to go is up.

"I'm sorry," he said, earning stares of shock from Magnus and Gaol. Before they could ask questions, Dark Pit said, "I let my emotions rule my judgment. I have harbored evil. I am sorry."

Magnus and Gaol smiled at him. "The past is behind us, or we wouldn't be back here," Gaol said. "Magnus said it earlier: we're a team. We forgive each other."

"Where were you anyway?" Dark Pit asked, wanting a subject change.

Magnus and Gaol's faces went red. They both held each other close. "A vacation every now and then is a good thing, right?" Magnus asked.

"Mm-hm," Gaol answered.

Dark Pit got suspicious. "What's going on?"

Magnus and Gaol made their left hands quite visible. Dark Pit was shocked once again. "Th-th-those are…"

"Wedding bands," Magnus and Gaol said in unison. Dark Pit should have seen this coming.

"Why so suddenly?" Dark Pit asked.

"We were attacked, by something we had never seen before," Magnus said darkly. "A man, carrying a Samurai Blade. He had an army of Underworlders and strange monsters with a single eye. He was hunting us, trying to keep us from the Underworld. We decided we needed to find you again."

Magnus looked at Gaol. "We both knew now that this mission might truly be the end of us. We wanted to enjoy life for as long as we could. So, we married."

"I guess it was coming for a long time," Dark Pit said.

"That it was, that it was," Magnus said, looking at his wife. Dark Pit felt a pang of longing. He knew what it felt like to be that in love. He wished with all his might he could have been enjoying what they had. A single name popped into his head: _Aria._ He wished the girl was around. He needed her. He wished he could have her back. But she was probably long gone with Pit by now. He lied down and fell asleep within seconds.


	29. The Dark Triad Plus 1

Chapter 28: The Dark Triad Plus 1

Dark Pit woke early in the morning. The sun had not yet risen. That sat fine with him. He wanted to experience the peace of watching the sun rise. Even if it did dredge up painful memories, he was all too aware of the fact that Lilia and instilled his like of the sunrise, it still helped put his heart at ease. Maybe, just maybe, he could learn to move on. However, that would be a long, long time in coming.

He examined his coat as he moved to put it on. He still had his sword, but something was missing. It was his supply sack. He cursed harshly to himself. That sack had been a gift from a village elder on one of his early missions. It was an uncalled for act of kindness, one for which Dark Pit was grateful. That sack was magic, and it would hold anything that could fit through the opening; meaning that it held a _lot_ more than it should have been able to.

There was also one other, small, tiny, insignificant, _major_ problem: That sack held all of the keys of the Underworld that he had collected so far. II, III, and V had suddenly slipped from his grasp. Worse, they landed with Pit. Dark Pit may no longer have the desire to kill his doppelganger, he purposefully ignored the little voice that told him that Pit was the original, but he didn't want to see the angel while his emotions were still raw.

In fact, he nearly panicked at the possibility that he would have to go see the angel again. Lilia's death, despite the years of ignorant bliss, was still too fresh in his mind. He couldn't bring himself to face her killer. There was no way to predict how the dark angel would react. He might go into a blind rage, not unlikely given the previous fights, or he might enter into an embarrassing breakdown. A depression wasn't unlikely either. He was depressed now, after all.

He was busy wallowing in his depressing thoughts when he heard the noise. At first he could scarcely believe it. Yet it was. There was someone blindly bumbling through the forest. He only knew of one person who could possibly be that stupid when it came to navigating the forest. A girl who had gained his trust in maybe two short weeks. The only true bright spot in his currently dreary life (reuniting with his team currently slipped his mind).

He yelled as loud as he could: "ARIA!"

* * *

She cursed herself for being so stupid. She'd left a group of good people and gone out into the woods. She knew full well that she had zero ability to survive, let alone navigate, the wilderness. Only now, when it was too late to do anything about it, had she realized that she may have very well walked to her death. But it may have been worth it.

In less than two weeks, the first man she had ever liked weaseled his way into her heart. Had she stayed in safety, she might never have seen him again. That wasn't true though, now that she thought about it. Her ability so see paths to items of importance also allowed her to glimpse the threads of fate. And the threads surrounding the two angels were inexorably intertwined. Especially with the situation currently surrounding them. They were bound to run into each other before all would be said and done.

Still, she had felt so empty around Pit and his team. She couldn't even begin to imagine how the angel had had any appeal when the two first met. Sure, his lot seemed to be made of good, if odd, people, but she didn't want them. She wanted the company of the one person in her life whom she truly considered a friend. And, if things went her way, he would become more than a friend.

But enough mushy stuff, she had to concentrate on getting through the forest. However, she was rapidly discovering that she had a _wonderful_ sense of direction. That is to say, it resembled that of a blind bull. She faintly remembered all the times that she had gotten lost in her own home. The place was huge, of course, but that was no excuse. There was one occasion where it had taken her three hours to get from the front door to her room. Of course, that was the only time she had ever been _that_ lost, but her sense of direction still sucked.

As the hours wore on and the sky began to brighten, she began to lose hope. She was hopelessly lost, and she knew it. What scared was the fact that it could lead to her death. She didn't want to die. She cursed herself again for her stupidity. That's when she heard a voice that made her heart leap in her chest for joy.

"ARIA!" came the yell of Dark Pit. Her sense of direction may have been below par, but even she could find the source of a scream that loud. And she rushed toward it with all that she was worth.

She nearly leapt for joy when she saw her dark angel burst through the foliage. She didn't even notice the fact that she had called him hers. Apparently, she liked him even more than she consciously knew. She loosened Dark Pit's supply pack and prepared to give it to him.

* * *

Dark Pit burst through the foliage and saw her. He rushed forward and embraced her without thinking. He might not have known how deep his feelings for her went, but he was glad she'd found him safely. She hugged him back.

"You forgot this," she told him when they took a step back from each other. She offered his supply sack.

Dark Pit was radiantly happy. Not only had the one bright spot in his life come for him, she brought a solution to his current depression. "Thank you," he said as he accepted the pack.

"It's a miracle I found you." "It's a miracle you found me," two voices sounded at once.

Dark Pit was the first to follow up. "I know you can't navigate the wilderness. I'm glad you caught me before something caught you."

She chuckled nervously at that. With her head bowed nervously down, she mustered enough courage to say, "It's a bit worse than that. My whole direction sense is off, except when I'm linked with my powers. On a really bad day, I'll get lost in my own home," she admitted shyly.

Dark Pit held her once again. She melted in his embrace. However, his joy was not to last. Slowly, the bleakness of his memory was returning to him, effectively destroying the moment.

Aria must have sensed the change. "What's wrong?"

"I remembered everything." There was no need to say anything else. She knew what he meant.

"Will you tell me?" Silence met her. She thought desperately to find something to say. She looked up and noticed the sky getting brighter. "Hey," she said, grabbing his attention, "let's watch the sunrise."

He smiled weakly. She already knew what could make him feel somewhat better. He scooped her up and used his Power of Flight to take them into a tree. He chose a branch that was high enough to get a clear view of the eastern horizon.

Together, they sat there, watching the sun rise. Dark Pit felt peace enter his soul. Combined with Aria's reappearance, it would be enough for him to shake depression for the day. The risen sun soothed both of their souls. Now, there was one other thing that needed to be taken care of.

He gently helped Aria out of the tree.

"Aria," he said, "There's some people I want you to meet."

Without waiting for a response, he ushered her into a clearing, where the now married members of his team were just waking up. It still stunned Dark Pit to no end to see those wedding bands. He had seen it coming for a long time, but to have it happen out of nowhere still shocked him.

He turned to Aria. "I never properly introduced my team." He took Aria and moved her to the now wide awake members of his team. He brought her up to Magnus. "This is Magnus. He's a little rough around the edges, but a good person." He moved to Gaol, missing Magnus's miffed look. "This is his longtime partner and new wife Gaol." Geez, it was awkward even to say.

"Magnus, Gaol," he continued, before either of his team could get a good response in. "This is Aria."

"Nice to meet you," Gaol said pleasantly, despite being annoyed at her lack of speaking opportunity.

Magnus was silent for a different reason. Despite her change in armament and her more upbeat appearance, he recognized her as the girl Dark Pit had kidnapped from Pit. He was shocked to see how at ease she was around her former captor. Magnus could tell she was no longer a prisoner. It wasn't just her body language that showed it either. Dark Pit was just as comfortable around her. He smirked as he said, "You two make a great couple."

The both blushed, too embarrassed to respond. Magnus knew he had struck home. He had regretted the decision he made to leave Dark Pit several times since the falling out, but now he could see beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had made the right choice. Leaving the two of them alone together had given his sour-faced friend another shot at happiness. Judging by the way he'd been acting before Magnus left, Dark Pit needed that chance.

"Well, we'd better get moving. Where to, love birds?" He asked. Now Dark Pit replied with a sour look. If Dark Pit was responding to banter, perhaps things would work out great in the end.


	30. A Team Once More

Chapter 29: A Team Once More

Dark Pit should have known it and seen it coming, but he didn't. His black depression was worse than anything he had been through. Geez, he didn't deal with death well. He had been so happy that morning that all the people he had needed in his life returned, but death was a dark pall. Lilia dominated his mind as they walked east, headed to that ocean village that he and Aria had stayed.

He tried to sort his feelings out for the millionth time. He thought and thought and thought about that awful memory that was forever burned into his skull. The thing that hurt him the most, though, wasn't the loss. It wasn't his anger at the killer, that had all but given way to his depression. No, what hurt him the most, was his own actions.

He had done something truly terrible. Normally, he wouldn't have minded his actions regarding Pit, but right now, he did. He promised her not to become someone else. He'd promised not to forget who he was. He was the man she'd fallen in love with. A good man. He had betrayed Lilia's final wish. He had not only forgotten her, but he'd transformed into a different person. He became a true dark angel. He was disgusted with himself.

That was the source of his depression, and he knew it. No amount of consoling would ease his guilt. Perhaps he would never get over what he did to Lilia. _Traitor,_ he thought to himself. That was the only word that described how he felt. Traitor.

"You need to open up," he heard Aria's voice call.

He kept walking. Aria's presence was now becoming difficult to bear. It wasn't her fault though. He knew he was developing feelings for her. And he was scared to death that he would betray her too. So, as the day progressed, he began pushing her out. That wasn't fair to her, and it only made him feel guiltier.

Aria pulled out in front of him and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Talk to me," she ordered softly.

Dark Pit extricated himself from her grip and kept walking. Magnus and Gaol, he dimly noticed, had dropped just far enough back to be out of earshot.

"Darn it!" Aria yelled. "I can't help you if you won't let me."

"There's nothing you can say that will make me feel better."

"What happened to you? You were so peaceful this morning. I was happy to see you and you me. Now, you're avoiding my like the plague."

The words stung Dark Pit. His self-guilt was only growing. Aria easily spotted that guilty face he gave off.

"Hey," she stated softly, "whatever happened to her wasn't your fault. There's nothing you could have done. Trust me when I say this, the threads of fate don't break easily."

"I know her death wasn't my fault, darn it!" he yelled. "I know there's nothing I could have done. I'm not that blind!"

Aria was shocked. He clearly had some strong emotion bottled up.

"Tell me what you did then," she requested softly. "I want to help."

Dark Pit had a pained look on his face. He wanted to say it, but was too ashamed to go through with it.

"Tell me."

He couldn't. He couldn't let her know how he'd failed. He couldn't tell her how he failed Lilia and was failing Aria at that very moment. The shame was too much.

"Tell me."

No, he couldn't. It wasn't possible. He couldn't allow someone else to feel his pain. No one deserved to go through what he went through.

"Tell me."

Each request was a stab at his heart. It wore through his defenses. How could he deny Aria and shut her out? For all he knew, he was all she had at that moment.

"Tell me."

He knew he couldn't deny her.

"I failed to uphold her final wish," he said reluctantly. His heart seized as the words left. Tears were threatening. Before he lost courage: "She made me promise not to forget who I was. But I did. I forgot her. I forgot how she transformed my life. I forgot who I became. What was once a true man was replaced by a cold-hearted shell. You see, I failed her in a way that I could have prevented."

Aria was at loss. Of all the things she had expected, that wasn't one of them. He thought he might say something about being a little earlier to prevent Lilia's death. She couldn't have imagined that he would have broken Lilia's dying wish. Aria wanted to help him through the guilt, but she couldn't. Nothing she could say would change the truth. He had failed Lilia in the most terrible way possible. He'd dishonored her memory. And the fact that Aria couldn't help with anything was tearing at her soul. Never had she felt that helpless. Even the day Dark Pit had taken her couldn't compare to the helplessness she now felt.

* * *

Magnus looked ahead, concerned. His partner wasn't normal. Dark Pit's mood didn't change that quickly or that strongly. Dark Pit had been in a great mood that morning. He could see a great pride in the angel's face as he properly introduced Aria. And the way she looked at him left no doubt as to what was going on. It was the same look Gaol had given him when they were falling in love. But now, Dark Pit was depressed. Magnus guessed it had to do with Dark Pit's memory problem.

Magnus wanted to know what was going so that he could help his partner, but he knew better than to press the issue. The dark angel would spill his guts when he was good and ready. Of course, knowing Dark Pit, that day might not ever come.

As if reading his thoughts, "I'm concerned for him," Gaol said.

"I am too," Magnus admitted. "But he won't open up till he's ready."

"Looks like she doesn't know that."

Magnus was going to ask what that meant when he looked ahead. He couldn't hear a word said, but he could tell that Aria was prying at him. She had guts: being persistent around Dark Pit could earn a tongue-lashing at the least. At worst… Magnus shuddered. He'd only seen the angel's true wrath unleashed once. It wasn't an experience that he was likely to ever forget. The poor guy who suffered the angel's wrath was probably still in perpetual pain, even after all these years.

"We'll let her figure it out," Magnus told his wife. His wife. Those words thrilled him to no end. He didn't think a man like him could ever feel so emotional. He personally never thought that he would feel love again. After the death of his previous wife and child, he had gone full mercenary. It was how he'd become one of the best.

Much to Magnus's surprise, Dark Pit didn't explode on the girl. He was agitated, evidenced by the raised voice he gave. It was loud enough that Magnus could almost make out the words. Not quite, but almost.

It shocked him; it almost looked as if Dark Pit was opening up to the girl. Judging by her face, she didn't like what she heard. _Yep,_ he thought, _those two are going to make each other happy someday. I just hope the in-laws don't have too many problems with the dark angel._ He shuddered to think about confrontations between Dark Pit and the parents of Aria. The problem was, Dark Pit couldn't take "no" for an answer.

Something felt wrong. Aside from the angel and the girl, the forest had gone deadly silent. He looked at Gaol. She'd noticed it too. Something was _very_ wrong. Magnus had a feeling that his partner's heart-to-heart was about to be cut short. He rushed forward.

* * *

Dark Pit walked in silence. He knew it would happen. He knew that if he told Aria what he'd done, she wouldn't be able to help him. She probably thought of him as worthless slime now. How could she not? He had failed to keep a deathbed promise.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps approaching from behind. They were approaching fast and heavy. Magnus was clearly concerned about something. Dark Pit turned and watched Magnus's approach. Gaol wasn't far behind. Something wasn't right.

"What's wrong?" Dark Pit asked.

"Hear that?" Magnus replied cryptically.

Dark Pit listened hard. "I don't hear any…" That's what was wrong. There wasn't anything to hear. The forest was far too quiet. Evil was lurking somewhere nearby.

Dark Pit drew his sword and motioned his team to do the same. Aria drew her bow from its place on her back. She also loosened her sword in its sheath in case she had to draw it quickly. Magnus drew his sword and held in in a defensive stance, ready to use his monster as a sword as well as a shield. Gaol had already summoned her armor in a burst of purple energy. The entire group was ready for whatever was to come.

"I was wondering how long it'd take for you fools to notice me," a voice called from nowhere. It was feminine, and laced with darkness. Dark Pit set his head to swivel, trying to identify the source.

A woman stepped out from behind the foliage. She was dressed most unusually. She wore a simple tunic and leggings, but her chest, thighs, shins, upper and lower arms were all covered in ornate armor. A cape finished the outfit. Here's the weird part. Her entire right side (left to the observing group) was silver, while her left (the group's right) was obsidian black. Even the cape had the dual color scheme.

Her face was that of a stern woman, the kind who'd be in charge at a women's prison. Her eyes were black and her hair was fire red and drawn into a ponytail. Her stature told of much experience as a warrior.

"Who are you?!" Dark Pit demanded.

"I am your death. You just don't know that yet," she replied.

"Wrong answer!" Magnus yelled, charging forward, sword held high. The woman just smiled. When Magnus was ten feet away, all the ridges in the woman's armor began glowing silver. Her gloved hand was glowing the brightest. Magnus swung at her head, intending to bash her skull in. She raised her right hand and caught the sword in some kind of telekinetic field. She then moved her hand across her chest and swung her right arm out, creating a blast wave that knocked the entire group into the ground. Except Magnus. He flew straight into a tree trunk, hitting with a loud thud.

Dark Pit stood and charged, covering his weapon in flames. At the same time, Gaol was charging a blast of her purple energy. Aria had a charged shot notched in her bow. Dark Pit swung. Gaol and Aria released their combined blasts. All three attacks struck at the same time.

The woman smiled, held her right hand over her chest in a fist, and absorbed all three attacks with another telekinetic field. She then jumped back and shot her hand forward, palm out. The ensuing blast of energy sent Dark Pit reeling.

He smacked into a tree, headfirst, hard. He dimly heard the sounds of battle. His ears were ringing. His head was fogged. He finally recovered his senses enough to see what was going on. Aria was on the ground, lost to unconsciousness. Gaol was sending green-rimmed black balls at the enemy. The woman simply absorbed each one in a telekinetic field and sent a blast back at Gaol. Gaol, however, dodged each counter-attack and continued striking.

"Stop!" he told Gaol. It seemed that the woman's attacks were fueled by the energy she absorbed from her opponent's strikes. If there were no strikes, no counterattacks could be made.

Gaol seemed to get the idea. The woman, Dark Pit, and Gaol stood in a triangle, at a standoff. Magnus still hadn't gotten up, and Aria was out cold.

The woman smirked. "You're smarter than my employer led me to believe," she stated in an even tone. "Most of my targets would drive themselves crazy trying to break the Silver Fist's defense. As fun as it is using an opponent's own power to defeat them, it's even more fun to fight a foe that figures me out."

Dark Pit remained where he was, seething. This woman had hurt Aria. She would pay. He waited for something to happen. The standoff went for a minute, then two, and then five. No showed any sign of breaking it. Dark Pit knew what was going on. The enemies were sizing up their opponents. Watching

their posture. Waiting for an attack opportunity.

During the standoff, Magnus regained his feet. He figured out what was going on pretty quick, and elected not to attack.

The change was so subtle Dark Pit almost missed it. The silver-glowing areas had slowly changed to black. Now, instead of the black half having bright silver ridges in the armor, the silver half had extremely dark ridges. The woman wasn't relying on the so called Silver Fist. Magnus and Gaol caught his signal. They all charged forward.

They were too late. The woman had been slowly changing power from the Silver Fist to the Obsidian Fist. True, she could have done it in two seconds, but the subtlety kept them from realizing her vulnerability until it was too late. It was with another smirk that she raised her left hand.

The Dark Triad was shot back by the blast of gaseous shadow. They had been about to connect their vicious melee strikes when that cloud had come out of nowhere. As they stood, Dark Pit was horrified to see that the shadow clouds were still hovering around them. He realized their purpose too late; he and his team were immobilized where they stood.

The woman smashed her fists together, causing the shadow of the Obsidian Fist to flow to the Silver Fist. She then charged at Dark Pit with a speed he wouldn't have thought was possible. She then began hammering him with furious blows. Dark Pit was certain he had sustained two hundred blows at least during the ten seconds that the woman was wailing on him. He was sure some of his ribs were broken. The woman reached her left fist back, channeling shadow power into it. She then hit him so hard that he broke his shadow bonds and slammed into a tree. It was a miracle he stayed awake. He'd experienced similar blows that had put him in a coma.

He raised his head enough to see what was going on. The woman had both of her hands above her head and shadow energy was collecting between them. She then brought both of her hands down and extended them towards Magnus and Gaol, one hand for each target. The woman then released a blast from each hand. The beams of shadow hit Magnus and Gaol hard. Their screams drowned out the woman's laughter. The beams expanded, becoming wider and more powerful. Magnus and Gaol were knocked down by the increased force, just as Dark Pit had been.

The woman barely had time to block the sword that had come from nowhere. Her arm guards caught the blow. She was shocked to see that the sword belonged to the girl who'd been knocked out early in the fight. When she had regained consciousness, the woman had now idea.

Aria was pissed. That woman had knocked her and hurt Dark Pit. There'd be hell to pay. She swung her sword relentlessly, silently thanking her father for forcing her to learn it. Archery may have been her specialty, but she was better than most of the town's men when it came to swordplay.

Her blows struck harder and faster. The woman couldn't mount a counterattack. She just didn't have the opportunity. Aria came for a particularly hard strike. The woman crossed her arms and caught the blow between them. She was locked in a pushing war against Aria. The woman smiled. This was the opportunity she'd been looking for. She quickly deactivated the Obsidian Fist and reactivated the Silver Fist.

She was able to push Aria back. Aria came in swinging once again. The woman continued blocking as

before. Secretly, she was absorbing the energy of Aria's blows and using it to replenish the power she'd expended with Obsidian Fist.

This went on for another five minutes, while the three members of the Dark Triad slowly came around. They saw what was going on and realized that the Silver Fist had been reactivated. They silently agreed on a plan.

The woman felt she had finally absorbed enough energy. She caught Aria's sword in a telekinetic field and released some of the absorbed energy to send Aria flying backwards. Aria hit the ground, but not hard enough to knock her out again.

The woman had no time to savor her victory. She was smashed by Magnus's massive sword. She hadn't even noticed him come within striking distance. She flew directly into Gaol, who released a shotgun blast of pointed blue energy. She was hit with each bolt and sent skyward. Dark Pit was waiting for her in the air. His blade was on fire. The woman would not be able to raise her telekinetic block in time. Dark Pit swung at her, the flames becoming an explosion as the sword impacted with her chest. Luckily, the blade did not pierce the armor. Not so luckily, the woman was sent flying into the mountains and probably into next week.

Unbeknownst to Dark Pit, he'd just thrown away a critical piece to getting an Underworld key. Actually, that fact was unknown to all present, even the woman who was wielding said critical piece.

Dark Pit landed with a feeling of triumph. Nobody messed with team. Nobody. Even if he was having guilt problems, he needed to be there for his team. And they were a team once more.


	31. Heart to Heart

Chapter 30: Heart to Heart

Dark Pit flopped onto the hotel bed. Right now, all he ever seemed to want to do was sleep. That was it. Period. His depression wasn't healing. He tried to feel better, but couldn't. So he groaned and tried to go to sleep. The funny thing was, as much as he wanted to sleep, he couldn't. He hadn't gotten more than three hours of sleep since arriving back at the ocean village's hotel the day before.

After the attack, the Dark Triad had made their way to the town that Dark Pit and Aria had stayed at. Dark Pit had even managed to get the same room that he'd had last time. Magnus and Gaol had gotten a separate room. After all, those two couldn't do "married-couple-things" if all four of them were sharing a single room. That would be awkward, not to mention just plain wrong.

That brought up another point that was making him miserable. It seemed that everyone around him was happy to some degree. Magnus and Gaol were still enjoying their "newly-weds" status. Aria was thrilled that she got to back with Dark Pit; although Dark Pit was rapidly dampening that mood. And then Dark Pit himself was dealing with semi-justified self-hate.

"_Yeah, that's just about the sickest thing I've ever heard."_ He remembered those words so clearly. It was during the time towards the end of the Second Underworld War. Dark Pit had been traveling through the City of Souls, searching for a way to save Pit (and himself) from death. That's when he'd learned about Hades' source of power. He learned that he was using the souls of the dead to create monsters and augment his own power. He once remembered when Viridi mentioned something about Pyrrohn calling himself a "level-infinity-epic-super-god-plus." Hades, however, had used souls to reach a level far beyond what Pyrrohn had done.

It was at this point that he heard, "_Yeah, that's just about the sickest thing I've ever heard,"_ ring through his head once more. Those were the words that had come out of his own mouth. He had used those words to describe Hades' plan with souls. And now, three years later, he himself was ready to devour a soul to suit his own needs. True he hadn't thought about the power boost he'd get from absorbing Pit's soul, but that wasn't the point. The point was that he was willing to consume a soul for his own personal ends. In a way, he was even worse than Hades. It made him sick.

_I have to let go,_ he thought, in reference to Pit. Whatever Pit had done, it wasn't intentional. That didn't absolve Pit of his involvement in Lilia's death, but Dark Pit decided it was time to let go. If he ever wanted to even begin to feel better, he'd have to let go of his poisonous hate. He'd have to forgive Pit. As hard as it was, Dark Pit knew that he was going to have to do it.

The words of the Oracle came back to haunt him.

_"You must abandon all hatred, or it will destroy your team and your quest."_ And it almost had. Magnus and Gaol had left him because he was so blinded by hatred. He had tried to break Aria. Strong, fiery, sweet Aria. He only had one thing on his mind: murder. That word bounced through his head over and over again. Murder. He had been willing to become a murderer. That was wrong and he knew it.

He did take some consolation in the fact that he had been stopped before his dark path had been brought to conclusion. He shuddered at the thought. He would have become a vengeful monster. Who knows, with the power he could have acquired by devouring Pit's soul, he could have become an evil dark lord.

He vaguely remembered another thing Viridi had once mentioned in an effort to deter someone from the path of hatred and revenge. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a man who allowed himself to be consumed by hatred. This hatred distorted the good that was in him, and caused him to become an evil dark lord; a dark lord that spread the very darkness that he had vowed to protect the galaxy from. It may have been true or it may not have been, but the moral was clear: Dark Pit could have followed that very same path.

A knock disturbed him from his thoughts.

"Come in," he said, albeit reluctantly. He knew who was on the other side of the door and why she was there.

Aria entered the room, and sat on the bed. Dark Pit sat up, trying and failing to find comfort in her presence. He noticed that she had a tray of food in her hands.

"Come on," she said. "You need to eat."

Dark Pit just shook his head. He couldn't stomach food at the moment. He was too darned depressed.

"You need to eat," Aria pressed. "Angel or not, even you need food. In fact, I would think you would need more of it than the average person, given the amount of energy you can go through."

Dark Pit remained silent. He wanted to please her, but he couldn't bring himself to eat the food.

"Darn it!" she yelled. "Eat something! I don't want to watch you waste away and die! You may not feel important to yourself, but, darn it!, you're important to me!"

Dark Pit looked at her listlessly. Her words stung, but it wasn't enough to shake the depression loose.

"If you need someone to talk to, I'm here," she continued. "I admitted that I like you. I want to love you. But if that's ever going to happen, you're going to have to open up to me."

Dark Pit remained silent, weighing the merits of doing what Aria suggested.

"Please," she begged, "let me help you."

"I can't tell you. I've done awful things. I have evil in my soul," Dark Pit finally said.

"I won't think of you as any less of a person," she assured. "Everyone has faults."

"Not like mine."

"Don't convince yourself that you're alone; because you aren't."

"Darn it! I've tried as hard as I can to follow the path of good! I've tried to be a decent person at least! I tried to help people! But no matter what I do, I can't change the fact that I was born as Pit's antithesis! I can't expunge the inherent evil in my soul!"

Aria grabbed the sides of his head and forced him to look her dead in the eye. "Dark Pit," she began, seriousness pervading her tone. "I want you to listen to me very carefully."

Dark Pit nodded his head as best he could in her grip.

"No one is born unchangeable. Everyone has the power to change who they are. It's not always easy, and sometimes it requires a major push. I know. It happened to me. Before I met you I was just some stuck-up noble. Then you kidnapped me and humiliated me. It hurt, but, through it, I learned a little bit of what it was like to be humble.

"And then you showed a side to you that I never would have suspected existed. You showed that you could be caring and fun. You showed that you weren't the cold-hearted, calloused, vengeful person that I first took you to be. And you certainly showed me that you weren't a pervert." She said that last sentence with a much lighter tone, trying to get him to laugh at the times that they'd had together.

It worked. Dark Pit chuckled a bit as he recalled their early days together.

"After that," Aria continued, "you showed that you cared for me. You let me make my own choice when you released me. And you offered me a chance to do something far bigger than myself. If you can change me from being a stuck-up snob who was over-concerned with the threads of fate to a person who is willing to lay her life down for others, then you are more than capable of changing yourself from one of an evil birth to a man that stands a head above all of the greats. You can be someone better than Pit. You can be the greatest person of all: You."

Dark Pit sat there, absorbing all that she'd said. She was right. He hated to admit it, but she was right. He wasn't locked into being one person simply because of how he was born. Just because he was the manifestation of Pit's dark side did not mean that he was inherently evil. It just meant that he had more to overcome. And when he did, he would be all the better for it.

"I'm not going to force you to open up to me," Aria's voice cut in. "I just want to let you know that I'm here."

And with that, she left. Dark Pit certainly had a lot to think on.

A/N This chapter was amazing to write. I have heard that some creative people say that it feels more like they're discovering something than creating it. That's what this chapter felt like to me. And I couldn't resist a little Star Wars reference. Please tell me whether or not you liked that.


	32. Magnus, Gaol, and Aria

Chapter 31: Magnus, Gaol, and Aria

Magnus was just getting dressed. He didn't care what other people said. Married life was good. He got dressed and left the room to give Gaol some privacy. Just because they were married and doing "married things" didn't mean they needed to be together every second of the day.

Magnus was shaken out of his thoughts by footsteps. He looked up and saw Aria approaching. She was coming from her and Dark Pit's room. Magnus moved over to intercept her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she replied.

"Were you able to help him any?"

"I think so." She was silent for a second. "He'll need time. Only that will fix the damage he's experienced."

They stood there for an awkward minute.

"Do you need someone to keep you company?" Magnus asked.

Aria nodded the affirmative.

"Well," Magnus continued, "Step right in," he said as he opened the door to their room. He knew that Gaol would have finished dressing by then. Aria and Magnus entered the hotel room. Gaol was just getting out of bed, probably wondering what her husband was doing.

"Hey," she said. That would have been a moment where she would have used some sort of "married-couple-nickname," but they hadn't been married long enough to come up with any. And "honey" just seemed way to clichéd for them. Not to mention way too soft for people who were supposed to be hardened mercenaries.

"Did he kick you out?" Gaol asked Aria.

"No," Aria responded. "I just want to give him some space."

"Well, make yourself at home. If Dark Pit's accepted you, we will too."

"Thank you. Are you sure I'm not imposing?"

"Anyone who can heal that angel's heart is more than welcome here."

"Thank you," Aria said once more. She pulled up a chair and sat at the foot of the bed. An awkward silence ensued. It seemed that none of the three of them knew what to say next. They all wanted to speak. However, the only subject that was on everyone's mind was unofficially branded "off limits."

"So," Magnus tried breaking the ice. "Tell us a little about yourself." Aria seemed at a loss. "If you want to, that is."

"Oh no, it's fine. I was just a little unprepared. Hmmm, where to begin?"

"How about where you were born?" Gaol offered.

"Well, I was born in a place called Pallitia town, southwest of the mountains where we met. The town itself was built to honor Palutena, and is one of the few towns to continue to actively do so."

"That's interesting," Magnus said. "Most places these days are forsaking the gods."

"It wasn't all that long ago that you would have followed them," Gaol chided.

"This coming from the person who aided in the battle against them?"

"Hey, I was a different person back then. It's not fair of you to bring that up."

"Perhaps I should go now," Aria said quietly, standing.

"I'm sorry," Gaol said. "Please, continue."

Aria sat back down, mentally preparing herself to continue the story." I was raised as royalty, as my father was head of the town. I never knew my mother. I guess my father still loves her, as he still has yet to marry."

Magnus could tell she was holding something back. He was good at reading people. _She knows more about her mother than she's letting on,_ he thought. However, he decided not to pursue it. Probing for information that Aria was obviously not willing to share was a sure way to alienate her.

"My life there wasn't anything special," Aria continued. "I learned all the manners required of 'Proper Ladies.' Of course, that wasn't the only thing I learned. My father isn't very old fashioned, except for his devotion to the gods. He also taught me combat, in case I ever needed to defend myself. Every now and then, someone would try to take me hostage as leverage against my father. They always got a nasty surprise when they learned I was armed and dangerous. I also learned to use my divine sight to see the threads of fate."

"Divine sight?" Gaol asked.

"It's a gift I've had ever since I was little. I can see where I or someone I know needs to be. It's my sight that led me to that cave where the two Pits dueled." There was another silence. Magnus was about to say something when Aria broke it. "What about you two? What's your history?"

"We come from two very different paths," Gaol began. In our youngest days, we both joined a mercenary band. That's where we each learned to fight. It feels like forever ago. How old were we?" she asked Magnus.

"You were 13 and I was 14. I remember me and the other mercenaries laughing at the very idea that a woman who was as young as you could ever be an effective mercenary," Magnus replied. "For whatever reason, though, our leader decided to give you a chance. Our group never regretted the master's decision."

Gaol smiled at the memory.

"Go on," Aria said, clearly interested.

"We worked together for five years. In that time, we both became amazing fighters," Gaol went on.

"But," Magnus interjected, "it didn't last forever. Gaol acquired a bloodlust that most men would fear. When the master died of age, there was a violent battle over who would be successor. Gaol had the most aggressive bid for the title. Our group eventually disbanded, torn apart by its bickering.

"After that, I went solo, gaining a reputation as the greatest swordsman in all the kingdoms. Of course, I was no angel, and I'm not proud of some of the things I did in that time. I wasn't what you would call a respectable human being, even if I was a good mercenary."

"That's nothing compared to what I did," Gaol said sadly. "Like Magnus said, I had an insatiable bloodlust. I got high from fighting battles. I enjoyed killing. I worked up a reputation as a deadly assassin. In that business, I put most of the competition to shame. I was what one would call evil.

"It was about that time that Medusa, former goddess of the Underworld, found me. She offered me power and the title of Dark Lord. Naturally, I accepted. She had me build a fortress deep in the mountains to the south, and I headed a whole legion of Underworld troops from there."

"At the same time," Magnus took over, "I had gone a number of journeys of self-discovery. While I never could eliminate the hardened greedy mercenary, an event in my life toned it back. I first married when I turned 17. I had a son. I went out, did my dirty work, and took care of my family. However, one night, I came home an hour too late. I arrived to find that monoeyes were pillaging my home. But what held my attention were the dead bodies of my son and my wife. The boy was only 9.

"After that, I only took up missions that I felt were just. Then, at the beginning of the last Underworld War, I received word that Gaol had joined the Underworld side. I was deeply hurt that someone whom I considered a friend would join the monsters that stole my family from me. I took the first contract that came up for Gaol's head.

"That's when I met Pit. He had stormed the fortress, intent on taking down Gaol. We battled our way through the castle and stormed the throne room. Together, Angel-Face and I took Gaol down. Pit was extracted from battle, leaving Gaol's beaten form in my care. To my eternal joy, I couldn't bring myself to kill her."

"My defeat opened my eyes," Gaol came back in. "Magnus took me prisoner, but I didn't matter. I saw what the evil I'd done had gotten me. I was ready to pay the price. I made this very clear to Magnus. I told him to take me in. He made a different call. We've been more or less together ever since then."

Aria was shocked that those two would open up to her so much. She had to know why.

"Why would you tell me so much?" she asked.

"Because," Magnus said, "Dark Pit trusts you."

"If you can earn _his_ trust," Gaol put in, "then you deserve ours."

"Thank you," Aria said, feeling just a little guilty about holding one little piece of information back.

Apparently, Magnus caught on. "We won't press you to tell anything you want to keep to yourself."

"Thank you," Aria said again. "The information I'm holding back, I don't want anyone to know about. It could go over very badly in the future."

"We trust you," Gaol said. "If that's your judgment, we won't get in the way."

All of them were surprised to hear footsteps coming their way. The door swung inwards to reveal a figure dressed in a black trench coat. Dark Pit still looked depressed, but he had a determined look in his eye.

Aria was happy to spot a few crumbs on his jacket. He'd eaten.

"We're leaving," he said. "We have to find the next Underworld Key."

The group got up and followed the angel. It was good to have Dark Pit back.

**A/N I finally created my own account on FanFiction. To all of you who are reading RonnyBravo's version of this, I'm here to let you know that it's now available on my account. My penname is Game777Guy. Any further reviews of this story I would request be left on my account. You don't have to, of course (I'm sure RonnyBravo would be happy to continue telling me what you all think of my work), but I'd like it that way. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy.**


	33. Keys to Keys

Chapter 32: Keys to Keys

The group traveled from the time they left the hotel to sunset. Then, they kept traveling the next day. That was when they entered the Shrouded Forest, a massive, dense forest in the north-central part of the continent. The place earned its name. It was creepy. However, Aria told them that that was where they were headed.

The sun was setting when they finally broke for camp. They were deep in the forest now, and would have been lost if Aria's powers hadn't steered them straight. However, her power clearly took some out of her. She had remained silent throughout the day, opting to concentrate.

As they set up, two voices rung out, "I'll cook!"

Aria and Gaol glared daggers at each other.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Gaol started, "but did you just say 'I'll cook'?"

"Yes," Aria sated politely. "But correct me if I'm wrong, I could have sworn you said the same thing."

"Yes, I did."

_3,2,1_ Magnus and Dark Pit thought simultaneously.

"There can only be one cook here!" Two very feminine voices echoed. Faster than a flash, they both had their cooking supplies whipped out, each intent on making a killer beef stew.

"Get out of the way," Gaol said. "There's no room for the inexperienced."

"You're just jealous that I'm still young," Aria shot back, stirring her mix furiously as it heated.

"Are you implying that I'm old?!"

"Maybe."

"Why you little…!"

They both redoubled their efforts to perfect the stew. Each one was putting more and more spices to improve the taste. In less experienced hands, that many spices would have been cause for concern. However, both women were masters at the culinary art. As they put more in, mixed, and tasted, they never stopped sending each other dirty looks.

Magnus and Dark Pit, to their credit, stayed out of the affair. It was far safer to have the women's ire directed at each other than combined and directed at the men. The men shuddered at the thought.

However, the men could only stay out of it for so long. Soon, each of them had two bowls of stew planted in front of them.

"Eat!" the women ordered.

"We'll see that youth isn't everything!" Gaol stated.

"I'll just prove that you lose your touch with age."

Magnus and Dark Pit were sharing desperate looks. Neither of them wanted to be in that situation, but they both knew that they were going to have to taste the food. It was with a gulp that Dark Pit took a sip of Aria's stew. Likewise, Magnus ate Gaol's creation. That out of the way, the men each sampled the competition's food.

To their dismay, the two stews tasted identical. It wasn't that they were both just as good, they literally tasted identical. Of course, Magnus and Dark Pit weren't going to admit that. They both knew that Gaol didn't take kindly to those who thought that her cooking was inferior. However, they both realized that Aria might be the same way.

"Aria's is best." "Gaol's is best."

The two men looked at each other. No win scenarios sucked.

Gaol stalked over to Dark Pit and lifted him up by the collar of his shirt.

"What was that you said?!"

Aria stalked over to Magnus and lifted him up by the collar of his shirt. An impressive feat considering Magnus's size.

"What was that you said?!"

The two women then paused to look at each other.

"HEY!" feminine voices rang out in unison. "GET YOUR FILTHY CLAWS OFF OF MY MAN!"

They each dropped the man they were holding and prepared to go at it. Dark Pit, however, would have none of it. Mustering every ounce of courage he had, he got between the friends-turned-killers.

"Relax," he said, a lot more confidence in his voice than in his heart. "It's just food. And honestly, your stews tasted identical."

Dark Pit felt the angry auras rise and knew that he had made a mistake. Possibly his last.

Again, feminine voices rang in unison, "HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK OF COMPARING MY FOOD TO HERS!?"

Magnus wisely elected to stay out of it. As the dust clouds settled, the women left one very beaten Dark Pit sprawled on the ground. He resolved to never again come between cooks and their food.

Gaol and Aria looked at each other, embarrassed.

"I guess we got a little carried away there," Gaol said meekly.

"Yeah," Aria said just as quiet.

"Maybe we should work out a system."

"For sure."

There was a pause. "I'm sorry," they both said.

Then they both sat down and nervously grabbed bowls of food. Aria grabbed Gaol's cooking, and Gaol grabbed Aria's. When they tasted the food, their eyes went wide.

"Heh," Aria said nervously. "He wasn't lying. Our food really does taste identical."

"Yes," Gaol agreed.

"Hey," Aria said, "let's not put the men in a position like that again. It's not fair to them."

"Agreed."

There was a pause. "Friends?" Aria asked tentatively.

"Friends."

* * *

Dark Pit was really glad he was an angel. If he was human, he would have been suffering from the women's beating for days. As it was, he healed overnight. He silently thanked whatever gods were listening that the women had reached an agreement. Those two could throw punches.

"Get up!" Aria yelled out, her voice urgent.

Dark Pit wasted no time in throwing on his coat and jumping out of bed. He moved over to where Aria was and noticed that Magnus and Gaol were doing the same. The tone of Aria's voice drowned out all memories of last night's cooking episode.

"What is it?" Magnus asked.

Aria seemed a little nervous. "Well, I was casting my senses toward our destination."

"And?" Dark Pit asked.

"I noticed something I had missed. There is a sealed barrier between us and the key."

"I see how that could be a problem," Gaol started. "But how is this urgent?"

"In order to pass the seal," Aria explained, "three items are needed. One of them is the charm on my necklace. The other two…"

"Well," Magnus pressed.

"Do you remember the women with the gloves?" she asked.

"What about her," Dark Pit inquired.

"The gloves she was wearing; we need them to bypass the gate."

"That still doesn't explain the urgency," Magnus said, irritated.

"She's coming here," Aria said. "She's stronger than before and she's pissed. We have at most five minutes.

Dark Pit felt something wrong. His eyes widened. "I think it's more like two seconds! Scatter!"

The command just left his lips in time. As the team scattered from their position, a black bolt exploded where they just were. It would have killed them if Dark Pit hadn't ordered the scatter. The woman from a few days ago gracefully descended from the trees.

"Hello again," she said calmly.

"What do you want?!" Dark Pit yelled.

"My failure incurred my master's wrath. I'm not inclined to be…punished again. This time, I'm going to kill you all."

No more words were wasted, she began firing black bolts at Dark Pit, which he was barely able to parry. The woman was faster. Her armor changed to its silver lined glow as she absorbed green-rimmed bolts from Gaol. The woman then used the telekinetic energy to smash Magnus backwards, blocking the attack he had been about to launch.

Dark Pit charged in once more. He swung his blade, in its flaming glory, at her head. She blocked, grabbed his wrist, and threw him into the path of an incoming hail of arrows from a Palutena bow.

The arrows stung as he was hurtled towards Aria. He would have numerous small cuts by the end of the day. To her credit, Aria dodged out of the path of the incoming dark angel. She got up and began shooting more shots at the woman, intent to shoot her down.

The woman began approaching Aria, using her silver hand to absorb all the power from the Palutena bolts. As Magnus came in for another attack, the woman used her stored energy to swat him aside. When Aria stopped shooting to recover her breath, the woman switched to her black fist and shot a bolt at Gaol, cutting off the armored woman's surprise attack. The woman barely switched back to her silver glove in time to catch the brunt of Aria's bolts.

Aria calmly continued her assault as the woman stepped ever closer. When the woman was in melee, range, Aria moved to strike. The woman merely grabbed Aria by the neck and lifted her up, choking the air out of her. Aria looked around desperately. The Dark Triad was still recovering from the woman's counterattacks. Aria would be dead by the time they came to her aid. Luckily, she had an ace up her sleeve. Well, actually it was a knife.

She stabbed the woman in the arm before she could raise her ability to block the attack. The woman dropped Aria as Aria inhaled much-needed air. Aria stayed on her knees, coughing.

Dark Pit got up and saw Aria on the ground, coughing. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she'd just escaped. The mysterious women pulled one of Aria's daggers out of her right arm. She dropped it on the ground and got ready to kick Aria in the head in anger.

Dark Pit would have none of it. He charged a golden bolt and shot the woman's back. The woman turned around in time to block the attack. Rather than absorb it, as she'd previously done, she just reflected the attack back to Dark Pit. He jumped out of the way as his own bolt nearly took his head off.

Gaol, meanwhile, had recovered enough to attack. She surrounded herself with energy and charged at the attacker. The woman held her silver-gloved, wounded right arm and braced herself. Gaol collided. The woman was barely able to hold the force back with her wounded arm. However, she managed to absorb all of the energy.

Dark Pit watched helplessly as the woman's armor took on its black glow. Dark Pit was halfway to the woman when she released the black beam into Gaol's gut. The beam failed to pierce Gaol's armor, but she was sent flying. Gaol impacted a tree, hard.

Dark Pit charged a blast of wind, and used it to strike the woman. Even though she'd switched back to her silver hand, she couldn't absorb the widespread energy of the wind that Dark Pit had unleashed. She was knocked back and fell on her butt.

A massive sword slammed her onto her back. Magnus didn't give the woman even a single moment to get her guard up. He swung his sword like a golf club and launched the woman into the air. Purple, blue, and golden bolts from three different attackers pierced the woman's airborne body. When she fell onto the ground, she breathed her last.

The team walked tiredly up to the corpse. The woman was dead all right. She had three burning holes in her body and wasn't breathing. Dark Pit kneeled down and inspected her closely. That's when he noticed it at the V in the base of the neck.

"I've seen that crest before!" he exclaimed.

"Where," Magnus asked.

"That's the mark of the Chaos Kin! But it's dead!"

"It doesn't matter. What does matter is that we can now get the next Underworld key."

"Right," Dark Pit said. He moved to remove the woman's gloves. Once removed, the fancy armor on them vanished, as did the armor on each of the woman's arms. With these pieces, they could move forward again_. And besides_, Dark Pit thought, _once this is all over, they'll make excellent weapons_. He looked at the gloves in his hands and remembered just what they could do. _Oh yes, excellent weapons indeed._ With that thought, he and his group moved towards the location that Aria was guiding them to.


	34. The Maze

Chapter 33: The Maze

Dark Pit looked at the gloves he had taken. He was having trouble deciding what to do with them. From what he'd observed, they could only be used one at a time. That didn't bode well for him. For one thing, the silver one was geared towards defense. He didn't care for that much. His personality led his fighting style to be aggressive. A defensive-based weapon wouldn't do him much good.

_Aria._ The girl's name entered his head. His feelings for her were growing. Her openness while he was in the darkest part of his depression truly touched him. He wanted to be open with her too, but he just wasn't ready. Lilia's death still stung like an open wound. He couldn't tell anyone about it.

_NO!_ He forced his mind away from those dark thoughts. His team needed him. He wouldn't fail them again. He couldn't. His mind went back to the weapons in his hands. He decided on a course of action.

"Aria," he called. "Come up here."

Aria came up to him from her place at the back of the group.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I want to give you this," he said, handing her the silver glove, the Silver Fist, if he remembered correctly. "I wouldn't forgive myself if you got hurt. I want you to have the best defense possible."

"Thank you," she said as she took the Fist. She seemed dismayed that it was right handed. However, as she looked it over, the glove magically changed shape. It was now fully left handed. Without waiting, she put it on.

The glove immediately took an armored form. However, that was the only body armor. Instead of the body armor on the Dark Agent that the glove had been taken from, a silver, circular shield came into existence on Aria's left arm. Then, both the shield and the armor on the glove vanished.

"Amazing!" Aria exclaimed. "It responds to my thoughts!"

Dark Pit was now curious as to what his glove would be able to do. He slipped it on. As for Aria, his glove became right handed to suit his will. Black armor fully encased his arm, flawlessly absorbing his coat sleeve. He took out his sword and summoned the blade. The blue section had become black in response to the power of his glove. The Obsidian Fist, if he remembered right.

He willed the glove to stop releasing its power. The armor disappeared and the black section of his sword became blue once more. He could also feel a connection to the glove on Aria's hand. On his hand was a normal, unassuming, black glove. He wondered what the power of his glove would be able to do in conjunction with his already strong sword.

As the day wore on, Aria informed the team that they were getting closer to their destination. She told them to look for a stone structure with the Underworld eye on it. When the sun had finally gone down and the moon came up, they found it.

The structure was imposing. It looked eerie, rimmed as it was by the pale light of the third-quarter moon. The structure seemed to be a massive door that just jutted out of the ground in the middle of a clearing. The structure itself was completely covered in grass, except for the stone door.

The group decided to make camp there for the night.

* * *

"Well, we might as well get started," Magnus said, staring at the imposing door. The group had eaten a quiet breakfast, team-cooked by Gaol and Aria. After that, they debated on what to do and what to be prepared for.

But that was all over now. Aria stepped forward, her necklace, and its cobalt stone, in hand. She scanned the gate. About four and a half feet above the ground, she saw a slot that looked like it would take the charm. She inserted and turned it counter-clockwise.

The group heard a click as mechanisms in the door moved. On the right door, a black handprint made itself known. On the left door, a silver handprint revealed itself. Dark Pit and Aria instantly knew what to do. They each stepped up to the handprint corresponding to the Fist that they wielded. They each summoned their Fist's power and placed their hands on the mark.

A line going up from Dark Pit's hand to the Underworld crest on the door appeared. It filled with black energy. In a matter of seconds, the entire right half of the symbol was bursting with black energy. On the left side, the same process was occurring, but with a silver color.

Once the symbol was lit up, one half black, the other silver, Dark Pit and Aria stepped back towards Magnus and Gaol. As they watched, the energies of the two halves fused. The core of the lines creating the Underworld crest was black, but the light they gave off was silver. It was a truly creepy effect.

And with that, the glow faded. With a massive click, the doors started moving inwards on their own. The charm that Aria had used as a key fell to the ground. She silently picked it up. They all stared at the opening before them.

It was a hallway that descended down into blackness. Dark Pit looked to Aria for confirmation that that was their path.

"The light of the key comes from that passage," she said aloud.

"Hmph," Magnus said. "We're never going to get anything done if we stand here gawking. Let's go."

And with that, he plunged into the passage. Gaol waited for about two seconds before following her husband. Another five seconds passed, and Aria and Dark Pit entered the passage together.

The stairwell went very deep into the earth. It descended at a steady angle for who knows how long. When it finally ended, the team was a couple hundred feet beneath the surface of the earth. The group had pulled out anything that glowed to improve visibility. This meant that both angelic weapons were held in their owner's hands, and Gaol was wearing her armor.

The team surveyed the bottom of the passage. It was made of bland, black stone. There were three ways to go. One path led straight. Another was a ninety degree right-turn. The last was a ninety degree left-turn.

Everyone looked at Aria, who was concentrating on her powers.

"Well?" Dark Pit asked, growing impatient.

"Don't rush me," Aria responded. "Being underground messes with my vision. I'm guessing this place is huge, and one wrong turn could have us lost down here forever. I want to be _certain_ we're going in the right direction before I make a decision."

Dark Pit returned to being silent. It was probably safer that way.

"We go right," she said at last.

"You're sure?" Gaol asked.

"Positive," Aria responded. To prove her point, she began walking down the passage on the right. Having nothing better to do, the Dark Triad followed her.

* * *

It was a very good thing that Aria had come along. Dark Pit would have been lost ten times over in the massive complex. The place was freaking huge. There was an enormous variety of rooms. Some of them were laced with death traps. Others were laced with elaborate mechanisms that opened the true path forward. Others were filled with dangerous monsters the likes of which Dark Triad had never seen before.

As he was flying his team over a quicksand pit, Dark Pit wondered if any other heroes ever had to go through these maze-like dungeons.

The worst part of it was the areas that required backtracking. Aria would lead them down a tunnel that turned out to be a dead end. However, they'd find a key or piece of machinery that would link to something they'd already passed before. They would then have to go back to the area in question and open the true path. Several times during this process, they had found that monsters had settled into the area that they'd passed on their way to the dead end.

Dark Pit grew dizzy as the number of tunnels branching from their path exponentially increased. Every now and then, Aria would lead them down one of the side tunnels, taking them deeper into the maze.

After what felt like forever, the weary team reached a massive door with an Underworld crest on it. It was the first Underworld crest they'd seen since entering the god-forsaken maze. It could only mean one thing; they were finally at the maze's end.

The Dark Triad and Aria approached the door with caution. When they were about ten feet away, the tile that they were stepping on sank about three inches. The device caused hidden mechanisms to creak and groan as the door opened inwards, revealing a room that was lit all on its own.

The team entered cautiously. They wanted to be sure they didn't run into any traps. However, when they were all in, the door shut behind them. To their dismay, the door locked behind them. They turned back to the center of the room. All of them had weapons drawn. Aria and Pit even had the power of the Fists on standby.

In the center of the circular chamber, there was a pedestal. On it was the Underworld key with a roman numeral I in the center. At long last, they'd found it. The team moved towards it cautiously. When they were about twenty feet away, a circular ring in the floor depressed, revealing its function as a mechanism trigger. The key, pedestal and all, disappeared into the floor.

"What's going on?!" Aria yelled as the room began shaking.

From the floor, a statue rose. It was a man in traditional Greek armor; horsehair plume and all. The statue's left eye was glowing purple. A closer look revealed that it held the Underworld Key. The most unnerving thing was the statue's broadsword. It was easily three times larger than Magnus's weapon. Fitting, considering the statue's twenty foot stature.

"Who enters my domain?" it asked in a raspy voice that sounded dead.

"The Dark Triad," Dark Pit responded. "We are on a mission of the gods and need access to the Underworld. May we have the key?"

"The earthly path to the Underworld was hidden for a reason," it said. "If the world were to know of it, there would be no distinction between the living and the dead, as both would be able to travel freely between the realms. If I find that you are unworthy, then this place will become your tomb."

There was no more discussion, as the statue lifted its broadsword and began its attack. It swung its sword in a low ark that would have decapitated all four of them if Aria wasn't the first one in the blade's path. Using the shield from the Silver Fist, she blocked the blow, absorbing its kinetic energy. She then fired a telekinetic blast at the statue, knocking it onto its back.

Magnus, Gaol, and Dark Pit did not waste the opportunity. They each ran towards the fallen statue, ready to give it the coup de grace. Unfortunately, the statue was better than they thought. As the three-pronged assault hit it, it dissolved into purple energy, vanishing.

Dark Pit almost didn't see where the statue had gone in time. It was rapidly descending, its sword poised to slice him in half. Dark Pit channeled energy from the Obsidian Fist to his sword. He blocked the sword blow from the statue. As soon as the swords made contact, a black energy explosion was released. The statue was once again knocked backwards.

Magnus had managed to get behind the statue and drove his sword through where its heart would have been. Gaol, at the same time, fired a massive energy beam into the statue's stomach. The light in the statue's eyes vanished.

As Gaol landed, the impossible happened. The statue re-animated and pulled itself off of Magnus's sword. The hole that the sword had opened was closed as soon as the statue was vertical.

"What does it take to kill this thing?!" Magnus yelled, frustrated.

"None can kill me in my realm," the statue responded. "The only way to get out of here alive is to pass my test."

"And what would that be?" Gaol put in.

"Only those who are worthy will ever find out."

The statue began its offensive again. There was no stopping it. Its power was too strong. Dark Pit, Magnus and Gaol dodged the increasingly dangerous sword sweeps. They each put in lethal attacks, but the statue just kept shrugging them off as if they were nothing.

To make things worse, Dark Pit was tiring. He found out the hard way that the Obsidian Fist drew its power from his body. Only eating, resting, or using energy absorbed by the Silver Fist could restore the energy used to fuel the Obsidian fist.

Aria stayed out of the melee section of the battle. Instead, she fired blue Palutena arrows at it. The bolts were always dead on, but never seemed to have any effect. She was also rapidly tiring. Her human blood was rebelling against the divine energy contained her weapon. Soon, the drain in her stamina would be too much.

She thought of something. The Silver Fist could absorb energy. Maybe, if she blocked enough attacks, she could use the energy to replace her stamina. It was worth a shot. She brandished her shield and moved closer to the battle.

Dark Pit jumped yet another swing meant to remove his legs. He unleashed a savage charge blast to the statues head, hoping to dislodge the Underworld Key. The key remained frustratingly in place. The fist Dark Pit received to his face jolted him out of his frustration. As he got up, he saw that Magnus and Gaol had been similarly tossed aside.

What he also saw scared the life out of him. Aria was using the shield she got from the Silver Fist to absorb the energy of the statues impacts. What scared him is that the statue had swatted the shield-arm out of the way and was moving in for the kill.

_NO!_ he yelled with every fiber in his being. He would not be helpless to save another life. Aria would live, even if his life was the price. By combining his sword's wind abilities with his power of flight, he gained enough speed to ram Aria out of the way. However, he himself would be impaled. He stopped where he was, acceptant of his fate. His only regret, that Aria had to live beyond Dark Pit's death.

Dark Pit was shocked when he felt nothing pass through his heart. He opened his eyes and saw that the statue's arm had stopped mere inches from his chest. The statue withdrew the sword and relaxed. It slowly walked back to the center of the room.

"You have passed my test," it said. "One who is selfless enough to save another's life at the expense of his own is worthy to cross the path between worlds. But be warned, the path can only be used twice; once for the trip to the Underworld, and once for the return. After that, the keys will scatter and the path will once again be sealed."

That said, the statue once again sank into the secret compartment it had come from. As the rock door closed on top of him, the pedestal containing the Underworld Key re-emerged. The Dark Triad surrounded the pedestal. Dark Pit removed the key from its holding place. As he did so, another mechanism tripped. A twenty-foot, circular section of the floor separated, carrying the Dark Triad back to the surface.


	35. Coming Clean

Chapter 34: Coming Clean

The sun was still up when Dark Triad emerged from the maze. It was setting, but it was still up. The team breathed a sigh of relief as they walked off the platform that had carried them back to the surface world. As soon as all three of them were off, the platform sank back into the earth. A hatch covered in grass closed over the spot that the platform had come up from. If they hadn't experienced that maze, they never would have known that the exit was right there.

They made camp in the clearing where they'd come up from. None of them felt like doing any more walking. They had no idea what kind of distance they traveled and they didn't want to. They'd worry about that when they set out in the morning.

It was Gaol who cooked dinner that night. She made beef stew very similar to the one she'd made in the unofficial contest with Aria. They all enjoyed it in silence. As they moved to go to bed, the group separated. Magnus and Gaol went very far away from Dark Pit and Aria. The reason was rather obvious.

As Dark Pit was removing his coat, he heard Aria say, "Thank you."

"For what?" Dark Pit asked, a little confused.

"For saving me."

"Oh, well," Dark Pit stopped there. He wouldn't come up with some lame excuse. He'd give her the truth. "I'd never forgive myself if you died while I could stop it."

"I don't think you should feel that way."

"Why?"

"If I had died there, that would have been fate's decree. It would only hurt more if you blamed yourself. But I really do appreciate that you put your life on the line for me."

"Fate this and fate that. It's all fate with you isn't it?" Dark Pit said. "There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."

"I wish I could believe that."

Dark Pit looked her in the eye. Depressed or not, it was his turn to give good advice. "If I had followed 'fate,' I would have been a servant to the Underworld. I was created to serve Medusa, and fate would have had me follow that purpose. But I made a different call."

Aria looked confused now. Dark Pit wondered what he could have said to confuse her. He had made his point very clear.

"What do you mean, you were 'created?'" she asked.

_Oh,_ he thought. _I never told her about the circumstances of my birth._ Dark Pit sighed and prepared to explain.

"Six years ago," he began, "Medusa was resurrected to defeat Palutena. One of Medusa's commanders, Pandora, had an item called the Mirror of Truth. It could take whatever stood before it and make copies identical in nature. When Pit raided her fortress, the Labyrinth of Deceit, he sought to shatter the mirror, as it was creating Underworld monsters. However, when Pit moved to destroy it, Pandora turned it on. As Pit shattered the Mirror, I came into existence. Pandora had set the mirror to create in me Pit's dark side. However, the Mirror cracked before I was finished, and I refused to side with the Underworld."

Aria took that all in with interest. When she had processed it for a couple minutes, she began chuckling. Dark Pit couldn't understand why. It was killing him not to know.

"What?" he asked.

"It's just," Aria started laughing in earnest now.

"What?" Dark Pit asked more urgently.

"It's just that," more chuckles.

"Spit it out!"

"You're only six years old!" She started laughing really hard now. She was holding her sides because of her laughter now. Dark Pit noticed tears of mirth streaking down her face.

He couldn't believe it. He'd just told her how he was born, and all she could do was laugh at the fact that he was only six and not sixteen? Although, now that he thought about it, it was kind of funny. Soon he was laughing with her.

Dark Pit woke up feeling refreshed. It had been good to laugh. But there was still something wrong. He knew what it was too. His soul was not at ease. He still hurt over Lilia's death and his subsequent failure. He needed to put his soul at ease before he could do anything else. And it wouldn't be easy. However, he knew where to go to take the first step.

Dark Triad sat around each other. They were about to discuss plans. Dark Pit was certain no one would like how his plans fell.

"Aria," Magnus said. "We need to know where the last key is."

"Right," she said. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Her visage became confused. She concentrated harder. "It's weird," she said. "I can't seem to get a lock on it. I think it's moving. Someone may already have it."

"Where," Gaol asked.

"Somewhere northwest of us," she said. "I can't be sure until it stops moving though."

"Well," Magnus said. "We'd better head northwest."

"No," Dark Pit finally spoke.

"No?" all three of them said, clearly confused.

Dark Pit merely pulled out a map. He opened it and laid it on the ground. "We're going here," he said, pointing to a town labeled 'Xintut.'

"Why on earth would we go there?!" Magnus exclaimed. "It's almost in the opposite direction of where we need to go!"

"We cannot afford to waste time," Gaol added.

"I have to agree with Magnus and Gaol," Aria said. "What purpose would going there serve?"

Dark Pit looked into each of their eyes in turn. Then he said, "It's where she's buried."

That got everyone's attention. Aria already knew who 'she' was, but Magnus and Gaol didn't. Regardless of prior knowledge, all three of them were ready to hear Dark Pit finally come clean.

"About a month after the war with Hades, I stormed out of Viridi's domain. I had been working with the nature goddess because I enjoyed the power to fly. However, my independent streak won out, and I couldn't stay. For about a month after that, I did random mercenary work, quickly building a reputation.

"A village hired me to track down and kill a group of earth-stranded monoeyes that had been terrorizing local towns. The slippery things eluded me for three days. Even now, I'm not sure how they stayed out of my grasp for so long. But I did find them. They were terrorizing a girl and threatening to kill her. When I saved her, she introduced herself as Lilia."

Dark Pit paused here to read the reactions of his team. Aria was still listening with rapt attention, but nothing had surprised her. Magnus and Gaol were different. They were both shocked to hear Dark Pit say that name. They had known about the name of course, but had no idea who it belonged to.

"Lilia," he continued, "was a daughter of Hecate, the goddess of magic. She was kind hearted, energetic and loving. It took time, but I eventually grew to love her. I had asked her father for permission to marry her. He'd said yes and I'd gone out and got a ring. That's when tragedy struck.

"She had gone into Xintut for the day. Even back then, I didn't know why. I had gotten her a bouquet of flowers to hide the ring in. As I was putting it all together, I saw black smoke coming from the town. I moved to it, and saw that it was under attack by monsters. I fought off a reaper, and then saw Pit flying away.

"I moved to survey the damage. The center of the town was covered in bodies." Here, Dark Pit began to choke up. "It was then that I saw her. She was lying in the middle of the square. She had a wound that was bleeding badly. There were scorch marks around the edge that identified it as a wound from a Palutena Bow."

Through his building tears, he studied his partners once again. They were all shocked at what Dark Pit had just revealed. They realized that Pit had been the killer, not one of the monsters.

"I'm sure Pit didn't realize what he'd done, but I couldn't think about that right then. What I knew was that the woman I loved was dying, and there was nothing I could do. I offered her the ring and asked her to marry me. Through her pain, she smiled and said 'yes.'"

A tear escaped down Dark Pit's cheek. The memory had hurt the first time, and dredging it up had not dampened the pain.

"I told her I loved her. She died as she told me that she loved me too. I can never describe the agony I felt that night. I sat over her dead body, weeping and cursing the cruel world that had taken her from me. When morning at last came, I was the one who buried her. The anger I felt at Pit was enormous, but nothing compared to the feeling of emptiness. Over the next few days, I forgot that Lilia even existed."

The group listened to the full story, but Aria noticed that he'd forgotten something. However, she wouldn't force him to say it. The tears on his face told everyone that he was having a hard enough time just sharing the story without being pressed for details.

Before anyone could ask about the piece he had omitted, he continued. "That was my greatest failure. Before she died she made me promise not to forget who I was. She didn't want me to transform into someone else. But that's exactly what I did. In forgetting her, I forgot ten months which had redefined my life. I broke Lilia's dying wish."

No one had anything to say. What do you say when someone bares their soul in such a way?

Magnus finally worked up the willpower to say something. "Why do you have to go to the town?"

Dark Pit looked at him. _"You must abandon all hatred, or it will destroy your team and your quest._ That's what the Oracle told me when we visited her. Unless I can forgive Pit and myself, I'll never be able to abandon my hatred. If I go to Lilia's grave and apologize to her, then perhaps I can learn to forgive myself."

All three of his companions looked at him with understanding.

"I'm so sorry," Gaol said.

"For what?" Dark Pit asked.

"For your loss, for one. I'm also sorry for my harsh treatment of you during those tense days when we fought Pit."

"Don't be. If not your and Magnus's actions, I would never have woken up to the problems within my soul. If anything, I should thank you for opening my eyes, even if it took some time."

"Well," Magnus said. "That settles it. We're going to Xintut. The mission is certainly important, but I care more about my friends than my job."

"Thank you, Magnus," Dark Pit told his friend. He was glad that his team was so understanding of him. Dark Pit considered himself blessed that he had the kind of friends that he did. They gave him tough love when he was acting like a jerk, and they were there for him when he was down in the dumps. No, he couldn't have asked for better friends.

As they began to walk, Aria came up to him. "If you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm here for you."

"Thank you," Dark Pit replied. He was especially glad for Aria's company. If she hadn't been there to help him through this, Dark Pit was certain he'd be dead by now. Aria's presence kept him going. It was because of her that he found the strength to keep on kicking. It was because of her that he was coming out of depression. It was because of her that he could possibly learn to love again.

**A/N: RonnyBravo will be unable to post until Friday of this week. Seeing that we like to post corresponding chapters of our story simultaneously, there will be no more updates to either story until then. But don't worry. When Friday comes, both stories will be getting a double-update.**


	36. Surprise Attack

Chapter 35: Surprise Attack

They set out south as soon as Dark Pit's story was over. They all wanted to reach Xintut as soon as possible. Dark Pit especially. He was sick of carrying all the deadweight in his soul. He just wanted to be rid of it and move on. It would hopefully take them about two days to reach the town (including that particular day).

The sun had just started sinking towards the horizon when Dark Pit felt something was watching them. He couldn't really tell what it was, but something was off. His danger sense was going haywire. Something was just horridly out of place.

"Duck!" he yelled. He hit the ground, hoping his command had come out in time.

It did. Just as the last of them hit the ground, a charged shot from a Laser Staff tore through the air they had occupied not two seconds earlier. Dark Pit could feel the heat from the blast. A Dark Agent had caught them once again. This time, though, Dark Pit wasn't going to take the 'kill first, ask questions later' rout. He was just going to hurt him/her really bad.

The shot had come from the left of where they were walking. "Split up," Dark Pit said. "Find him."

With that, each member of his team took off in a different direction. They were all headed in the same general direction, but fanning out. Dark Pit didn't know it, but he was on the most direct route. He slowly crawled forward. He didn't dare stand, for fear of having his head removed. Angel or not, a fully charged Laser Staff at long range was not survivable. Especially considering that a Dark Agent was wielding it. That meant that it wouldn't be some crappy 0 star 100 value weapon. No, it'd more likely be a 12 star 300+ value weapon.

Dark Pit saw a clearing ahead of him. In it was a man dressed in black. It was a simple outfit, but it held an ensemble of angelic weapons. There was a strap to hold the laser staff on his back. Another weapon, a Lancer Staff, was cross-strapped on his back. He had a Gaol Blade and a Samurai Blade at his belt. And at his wrists was a pair of retracted Artillery Claws.

Dark Pit tried to look at his face. There wasn't much to see at all. Both the upper and lower halves of his face were covered in black scarves, with the tails of the scarves trailing down from the back of his neck. The man's eyes were clearly visible. They were a soul-less gray.

Dark Pit silently withdrew his sword and extended the blades. He hoped he could win before his team arrived. Of course, given the fact that the guy was armed to the teeth with angelic weaponry, that was unlikely. A team effort was far more likely.

Dark Pit built up a burst of wind. He came into the clearing and used the wind to give himself a forward speed burst. He had his sword set to take the man's head off. The man caught wind of the attack and just barely got his laser staff into position in time. They exchanged furious blows for a few seconds and then parted.

"You're good," the man said. "I should have heeded the master's advice about angel's sixth danger sense."

"And who would this 'master' be?" Dark Pit asked.

"Oh, I'll die before I tell you that."

Dark Pit just smiled. "Fine then. We get to do this the hard way."

Dark Pit shot golden bolts at the man, who deftly dodged. As the man dodged, he returned the Laser staff to its place and drew his Blades. Dark Pit was suddenly caught dodging a combination of lacerating air blades and green rimmed dash bursts.

The dark angel decided to switch tactics and use his blade's flame ability. He used the concentrated bolts of burning palm as he dodged the combination assault from the man's twin blades. Unfortunately, the Dark Agent was just as adept at dodging as Dark Pit. One of his blades probably had an evasion modifier. A darned good one, too.

Dark Pit was beginning to wonder when his team would show up. The assault of the two blades was really starting to wear him thin. Just as he saw death headed his way, a blue bolt struck the man in the side.

Aria had been the first to arrive at the clearing after the battle started. She walked in, calmly firing a barrage of bolts from her Palutena Bow. The man used switched the blades so that the Gaol Blade was in his left hand. He then proceeded to use it as a shield to block Aria's bolts. The man would have moved to attack Aria, but he wanted to ensure that he didn't leave himself open to Dark Pit.

Said dark angel was having an increasingly hard time dodging. He couldn't get any more shots off, as the man had switched to standing continuous fire. The rapid fire rate made it very hard to dodge. The damage of the tiny air blades from that Samurai Blade was nothing to laugh at.

Dark Pit summoned the power of the Obsidian Fist. As he dodged under one of the Dark Agent's passes, he slammed his blade into the ground, channeling black energy through it. A rift opened in the earth and moved to between the Dark Agent's feet. The energy then knocked the Dark Agent off of his feet. Dark Pit pressed the attack by using his golden bolts to attack the man. The man dodged.

It was at about this time that Magnus showed up. The big man appeared right in the Dark Agent's path. The Agent had less than a second to dodge out from under the massive sword that was bearing down on him. However, the Dark Agent was nothing if not fast.

He moved out of Magnus's way and dodged the strikes that the three members of the Dark Triad were leveling at him. The man had not time to put in an attack, and he knew he was going to lose if this kept up.

Of course, where Magnus was, Gaol wasn't far behind. A massive purple-white beam tore through the clearing at the man. The man jumped over it and landed in a tree branch. As he jumped out of the way, he sheathed his Blades and drew the Lancer Staff. The man disappeared in the leaves of the trees. The Dark Triad went back to back, expecting an assault anysecond.

A massive, diamond shaped charge-shot forced the team to separate. Three ranged attacks went to where the blast had come from, but they hit nothing but air. The process repeated itself again. And again. And again. And again.

The team was getting sick of it. They all looked at each other and silently agreed on a path. They all knew that they were going to use the Dark Triad's special move. As they moved through the next attack cycle, the move was quickly explained to Aria. They waited for another attack cycle to finnish.

Instead of counter-attacking into air, the Dark Triad assumed a modified formation for the special move. Dark Pit flew directly above Magnus. Aria and Gaol were both twenty feet away from him. Aria and Gaol both charged up massive bolts of energy.

The women shot at Magnus. He held his sword so that one side caught Gaol's blast and the other caught Aria's blast. Magnus swung his sword directly up. The swing combined the two energies and amplified them. The amplification was one of the weird properties Magnus's sword.

Dark Pit was ready. He only hoped that Gaol and Aria would get a shield over the team in time. They all agreed that the move would react differently with Dark Pit's new weapon. Dark Pit released the power of a Special Move as the energy blast hit his blade. The resulting explosion was awe-inspiring.

A fiery tornado rimmed the outside of the explosion. It was also full of Gaol's pulsating energy, adding to the devastating properties of the move. Following the flame tornado was a hailstorm of gold and blue arrows. The move had completely torn up everything within 100 yards of the blast center.

Dark Pit descended to the ground as the silvery-purple shield protecting his team dissolved. They all surveyed the carnage. The forest had been ripped up. Charred trees were everywhere. Except for where Magnus, Gaol, and Aria were standing, there was no more green. However, the Dark Agent was nowhere in sight.

Aria moved behind Dark Pit and summoned her shield. The bolts from the Artillery Claws were harmlessly deflected. Dark Pit turned and saw the Dark Agent. He was bruised, battered, and his outfit was full of bloody holes. This last attack failed, the Dark Agent slumped into the ground, totally spent.

Dark Pit led the Triad to where the man had fallen.

"I want those answers now," Dark Pit told him nonchalantly.

"I told you," the Dark Agent answered, "I'll die before I tell."

"I think I can come up with something worse than death to make you talk."

"You misunderstand," the Dark Agent said frustrated. "As soon as I open my mouth to say something, I will die."

Dark Pit put the blade of his sword to the man's arm and drew blood. The man grimaced at the pain.

"Fine," he said. "I'd much rather die than go through torture. The god I serve is called-"

The man said no more, as flames spontaneously consumed his form. When the flames vanished, there was nothing left but ash. Not even the bones had been spared from the blaze. It was safe to say the Dark Triad would be left with more questions than answers.


	37. Onward

Chapter 36: Onward

The Dark Triad woke up, feeling refreshed. The last battle had been stressful to be sure, but no one had been injured. One-on-fours never worked out too well for the one. It just proved that they were coming closer as a team. And that's what they'd need to be for the ordeals ahead: a team.

Dark Pit woke first, as usual. He climbed a tree so that he could watch the sunrise. They had made camp at the edge of the forest, and this would be the last chance he would get to watch the sunrise from a high vantage point.

He smiled when he heard rustling behind him. She always tried to watch the dawn with him.

"Hey" Aria said as she made it into the tree.

"Hey yourself," Dark Pit replied.

"Are you ready for this?"

"For what?"

"For seeing her grave again."

Dark Pit answered with solemn silence. They would arrive in Xintut sometime that night. Dark Pit honestly didn't know if he was ready for what needed to be done. But he knew that he would have to do it. After all, part of being a man was doing what needed to be done, no matter how much it hurts.

"I thought as much," Aria told him.

"Her death stings worse than an open wound. And I've had plenty of those."

"Everyone goes through something that hurts them. I never had my mother."

"Neither did she."

"Just because it happens to a lot of demigods with goddesses as mothers doesn't mean that it hurts any less."

Dark Pit looked at her. He had suspected that she was a demigod for some time, but to hear her actually admit it was something else entirely. And she knew that her mother was a goddess.

"You know more about your childhood that you let on," he told her.

"Crap," she said under her breath. Apparently, she'd just realized her slip of the tongue.

"Who's your mother?"

"I can't say."

"Do you not trust me?"

"I…" she went silent. Apparently, she didn't really know the answer to that question.

"Aria," Dark Pit said. "I know from experience that trust is an integral part in a relationship. I've trusted you with my secrets; it's time to trust me with yours."

Aria didn't answer. Apparently, she really didn't want to answer that question.

"Alright," Dark Pit relented. "Trust is a two way street. I trust that you have a good reason for keeping the information back."

"Thank you," she replied softly.

Together, they watched the sun rise.

* * *

Dark Triad was packed up and ready to go before the sun had even been up an hour. It would be a long shot, but they were certain that they could be in Xintut by nightfall. That way, the next day, Dark Pit would do what he needed to, then they could finally get on with their quest. The group wanted so badly for this quest to be out of the way.

However, there was another issue that needed to be attended to.

"That man yesterday," Magnus started. "I don't know what to make of him."

"Join the club, pal," Dark Pit said.

"Whatever he was," Gaol put in, "it doesn't bode well for us."

"What do you think that little flame display was?" Aria asked.

"Whoever he's working for doesn't want anyone to know who it is," Dark Pit supplied.

There was a moment of silence. These Dark Agent attacks didn't bode well. Whoever was hunting them didn't want them to enter the Underworld. But why would that be? No one wanted to know the answer. Of course, they were bound to find out anyway.

Another thought occurred to Dark Pit. How had the Agents known of their mission?

"Hey guys," he said.

They all looked at him as they walked.

"How did these Dark Agents know of our mission anyway?"

That put confused looks on all four faces.

"I truly don't know the answer to that," Gaol said.

"Yeah," Magnus added. "We told no one of our mission during the separation."

"And I doubt Aria's a blabbermouth about important subjects."

"Got that right," Aria said.

All eyes turned to Dark Pit.

"Really?" he asked. "Do you even need to ask?"

They all turned their heads away. Apparently, no one was brave enough to accuse Dark Pit of being a rat. Good thing, too. It wouldn't have ended well. Well, not for them anyway.

Dark Pit started thinking once again. Who could have let it slip to the Dark Agents that they were headed to the Underworld? No one outside the Dark Triad knew of the mission. Dark Pit's eyes went wide. No one outside the Triad knew except…

"Our employer," he said suddenly.

"What?" Magnus asked.

"Our employer was the only person outside of the team that knows the details of our quest," he stated matter-of-factly.

"You don't think…" Gaol didn't finish.

"I never really did trust her," Magnus said.

"Agreed," Dark Pit put in.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Aria said. "Back up! What about an employer and not trusting and whatnot?"

Dark Pit sighed. "Remember when I gave you the details of the mission? I told you that our employer broke in. She was cloaked like a common thief. If not for the money, I wouldn't have even given her any attention."

"I'm sure the money wasn't everything," Aria stated.

"True," Gaol agreed. "The conversion of souls into monsters is a practice that should have ended with Hades' demise. But it didn't. That's why we accepted the mission."

"Does the factory even exist?" Dark Pit questioned. "If our employer sold us out, then how do we know that any of what she said is true?"

"The dark ones that have been hunting us are proof enough that there's something in the Underworld that we're not supposed to find."

"But what?" Magnus asked.

No one knew the answer to that question. With those disturbing thoughts, they headed for Xintut. Hopefully, everything would fall into place there.

* * *

The sun had long set by the time they finally arrived at the town. It was just as Dark Pit remembered it. It was surrounded by a wall, and had buildings that were place in an orderly fashion along a gridded road plan. Just seeing the town hurt. Even though it was late at night, Dark Pit could still see enough that it drove the painful memories to the front once again.

Luckily for them, the gates were still open. However, the team stepped up their pace anyway. The guards looked like they were positioning to close the gate for the night. However, when the guards saw the group running to get to town before the gates went up, they waited. They didn't look happy, though.

"Wait a moment," a guard called as they passed. "What is your business here?"

"That's personal," Dark Pit said.

"Why did you arrive so late?"

"We've been traveling all day," Gaol supplied. "We didn't know if we'd make the town in time or not."

The guard looked them over suspiciously. "As long as you don't cause trouble, you're welcome here. However, if you do cause trouble…"

Dark Triad got the idea. They headed into town to find an inn. It wasn't easy, many of them were full. However, when they reached the central plaza, they found one that wasn't too full. They went inside.

Aside from a few drunks, the lobby was empty. Most of the guests had probably gone to sleep for the night. And the visitors to the bar had likely gone home. The room itself was simple. There was a fireplace on the left wall, a stage on the right wall, and a bar and door on the back wall.

Dark Triad approached the bar. There was a bartender there. He was middle-aged and kind of short, with graying-brown hair. His face was pleasant though, and spoke of someone who was good at being courteous.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

"We need two rooms," Magnus said. "Preferably next to each other.

The man looked at his guest book. He flipped a couple of pages. He then compared it to a piece of paper. Dark Pit couldn't see what was written on it. Finally, the man said:

"You're in luck, the last two rooms available are right next to each other. Go through the door, turn right, and it's the last two doors on the right. Enjoy your stay."

With that, the men took the room keys and the team headed to the door. They followed the bartender's instructions and found their rooms. Magnus and Gaol said goodnight and vanished into their room. Dark Pit opened his and went inside, Aria just behind.

"Are you sure that you're ready for tomorrow," Aria asked him.

Dark Pit thought long and hard. Was he really ready to see Lilia's grave? Was he ready to admit how he failed her? Was he ready to move on? The answer made itself very clear.

"Yes."


	38. Laid to Rest

Chapter 37: Laid to Rest

Dark Pit awoke with a nervous feeling in his gut. Aria was still sleeping in the other bed. She seemed so peaceful. He'd need that kind of peace in order to let go of his hatred. However, this was something he would have to do completely on his own. He couldn't allow his teammates to suffer from his problems anymore. He had to lay them to rest.

He quietly slipped out of the room. He was headed to the roof so that he could watch the sunrise. Magnus caught him as he was headed down the hall.

"What?" Dark Pit asked.

"Good luck," Magnus said simply.

"Thanks," Dark Pit replied.

The dark angel moved to the roof. There was a fog surrounding the city. The sun was just coming up. The fog seemed to light on fire in the sun's light. It was a truly beautiful morning. It was one that would have caught him and Lilia together had she lived. But she didn't, and Dark Pit was here to move onto that.

As Dark Pit jumped off the roof, he thought he felt something odd. He shrugged it off. However, what it was was sensing Pit's presence. Dark Pit didn't recognize that due to the fact that he'd shut out his twin sense ever since the last battle with his double.

However, the dark angel was totally unaware. He just went outside the city gates. As the sun rose in front of him, he felt it's warmth creep into him. He was looking for a very specific patch of woods. When he found it, he entered.

It was just as he remembered it: peaceful. It reminded him of the life he once had. It reminded him of the life he could have had. He thought about blocking the thoughts, but decided against it. He needed to think about these things. If he didn't, he'd never be able to lay them to rest.

He only had to walk a few minutes before he found what he was looking for. It was a multi-colored rosebush. On it was a section of blue roses. It was the same bush that he had picked flowers from the day she died. It was only fitting that he paid his respects with flowers from the same bush.

He bent down and picked a bouquet of the bluest flowers he could find. They matched her hair perfectly, just as the flowers from nearly three years ago did. Dark Pit had to hold back his emotions. He didn't want to cry until he saw her. That would be unnecessary.

The flowers picked, he tied them together as he returned to town. He needed to find that grave site.

* * *

Magnus went back to the room to wake his wife. However he found that he couldn't do it. So he just lied down next to her, and hugged her close. She shifted a little, but didn't wake. Even in sleep, she knew his embrace.

Two hours later, Magnus himself had almost drifted back to sleep. However, a knock on the room door kept him from entering the embrace of sleep. He just shrugged and got up, planning to get the door. Aria was on the other side.

"Hey," Magnus greeted sleepily.

"I think it's about time for breakfast," Aria said.

"Right," Magnus responded. It made sense that she'd go to him. Magnus had been entrusted with the group fund upon the reformation of the Dark Triad. It was with some reluctance that he went to wake Gaol up.

"Hey, Beautiful," he called softly. "It's time to wake up."

She groaned. "Five more minutes."

"No," Magnus responded. "We need to eat."

"Fine," was the groggy reply.

Magnus stepped out of the room. "She'll be a few minutes," he told Aria.

"That's fine," Aria responded. "I won't die of hunger in a few minutes."

Gaol chose that moment to come out. She dressed fast. "Let's go," she said, headed for the bar. Magnus and Aria followed.

* * *

Dark Pit would never forget the location of that grave site. It took him some time to get there from the forest. The sun had been up for about an hour when he arrived. He walked into it slowly, with a purpose. He moved towards the center and found a gravestone that he recognized very well.

On it were written the words:

Here Lies Lilia Hecatesdaughter

A bright cheerful friend and bride-to-be.

She was loved by all around her.

They were the words that he himself had carved into the headstone. He chose now to let his emotions loose. He cried long and hard. For 45 minutes he lamented her passing. Her death still stung. His failure to her stung even worse. But he had to go through it.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "I'm sorry I forgot you. I promise you, I'll never forget again. I loved you while you lived. I will always have a place for you in my heart. But I can't be a man living in the past. I need to move on. I hope you forgive me for my failure."

"I'm sure she does," a voice called from behind him.

Dark Pit stood and saw a middle-aged man with short, graying hair. His face was average and stern, but it had a degree of wisdom. Dark Pit knew who he was.

"George," he said.

"I was wondering whether or not to let you know I was here."

"I should have guessed I wouldn't be the only one here."

"Of course not. She's been dead for three years today. As a father, I must pay my respects."

"I hope you can forgive me," Dark Pit asked, downcast.

"For what?"

"I broke her dying wish. She made me promise not to forget who I was. I promised not to turn into someone else; someone worse. But I did. I forget her. I forgot our entire relationship until recently. I've come here to ease the pain in my heart."

"Before her death, I would have held a grudge against you. However, ever since her death, I've strove to live in a way that would make her proud. She would have forgiven you. It was in her nature. So, I'll forgive you as well."

Dark Pit let tears roll down his face, unashamed. "Thank you. You don't know what this means to me."

"I have a feeling."

"Thank you, for speaking to me."

"She loved you, it's the least I could do." George looked at the flowers. "Beautiful flowers there. She'd love them."

Dark Pit looked at them, lost in the past. "I got the same kind of flowers to propose to her with. It seemed fitting that I get them to pay my respects as well."

"Indeed it is."

With that, George left Dark Pit to his thoughts. And Dark Pit had a lot to think about. But, he had a load off of his chest.

* * *

Magnus, Gaol, and Aria ordered a simple breakfast. It was just bacon and eggs. Everybody enjoyed their chicken babies and fried pig's flesh. Gross as it sounds there, it was truly enjoyable. They were just finishing up when a voice sounded behind them.

"You've gotta be kidding me," it was meant to be quiet, but they heard it anyway. They turned around and were stunned to see Pit's team standing behind them.

No one said anything for three or four tense minutes. Then Vinnia, the blond one, yanked her lance out of nowhere, causing the bartender to yelp and duck. Another tense silence ensued as the groups prepared for hostilities. Of course, that would be a losing scenario, given that all of Dark Triad's weapons were back in the rooms.

Finally, Magnus and Vinnia stepped towards each other, preparing to square off.

"Oh no you don't!" Aria said as she stepped between the two. "Look, we're not here to fight you. We're here for personal reasons."

"And you think I care?" Vinnia asked with hostility. "You left us for this pack of fools? What makes you think I'll listen to you?"

Aria had no comeback to that one. But she was saved when a raven-haired girl stepped forward to pick up the slack.

"Vinnia," she said. "Let's not do this. I mean, there's innocent people around here. We wouldn't want to be responsible for any injuries."

"I've got it!" exclaimed a brown-haired boy who up to this point had been silent.

Everyone turned to look at him. He pulled a deck of cards out of his shirt, removed them from the box, and used wind powers to shuffle them. "We'll have a game of Go-Fish," he stated proudly.

Everyone just looked at him as if he were crazy.

"Come on," the boy insisted. "It'll be fun."

Magnus stepped forward. "You know what? Why not? Let's relax a bit."

Gaol then stepped forward. "By the way," she started. "Before we start, where did you get that deck of cards?"

"Uh," the boy said unsure. "You don't need to know that. I mean, it's not like I know about the existence of inter-dimensional holes or anything."

Everyone stared blankly for a second. Finally, Gaol said, "I'm watching you."

They all sat down at a table as the boy began dealing the cards.

* * *

Dark Pit had been sitting at the grave for some time now. It was about two-and-a-quarter hours after sunrise. Dark Pit had already cried his last, and was just sitting there, paying his respects. She deserved that from him.

Suddenly, Dark Pit was aware of Pit's presence. He may have been shutting out his twin sense, but now it refused to be ignored. Pit was nearby. It was a good thing, too; as Dark Pit had a few words to say to the angel.

He stood up and turned around, his gray eyes meeting Pit's blue ones. Pit had left his weapon against a toolshed.

The two angles did nothing but stare at each other for a full minute. It was tense, as neither really knew how to start.

"I-I'm sorry I couldn't remember," Pit finally said. "I'm sorry it took this long to realize what I had done to hurt you so badly. Otherwise I would have apologized a lot sooner. It kills me inside, too, to know what I've done. I guess I deserve death at your hands. You have a right to hate me."

Dark Pit decided to step in before Pit's pity party got too bad. "I don't have a right to hate you. I promised her that I wouldn't become someone else. In hating you, I broke that promise, and nearly destroyed my team and my mission." Before Pit could say anything, Dark Pit continued, "You are not free of guilt in her death. However, hard as it is, I need to say it." Dark Pit took a deep breath. "I forgive you."

Dark Pit immediately felt enormously better. He felt that he could finally let go of all the hatred surrounding Lilia's death. He finally felt that he could be free of that debilitating hatred. He might never forget the pain of her loss, but he could finally, truly move on.

Dark Pit felt the other angel embrace him. Dark Pit went stiff, and said through clenched teeth, "This isn't a hug-it-out moment." He then tried to push the angel off of him. Pit got the idea and let go.

Dark Pit stumbled back a little. However, he made himself stop before he stepped on Lilia's grave. Dark Pit then noticed that Pit was staring at the grave with a strained look. It was almost as if…

"You can't read it, can you?" the dark angel said.

"Um…yeah," Pit admitted, slightly embarrassed.

"If you came to apologize to her, I'll read it for you."

Dark Pit looked at the grave, but before he could start, Pit said:

"Wait a minute. You can read?"

"Yes," Dark Pit said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm sorry, go on."

Dark Pit took a deep breath. "Here lies Lilia, Hecatesdaughter. A bright, cheerful friend and bride-to-be. She was loved by all around her." Dark Pit paused for a second and then added, "I carved those words myself."

Pit knelt at the grave and said, "I'm really sorry this happened." It was to both the dead woman and Dark Pit. "When I came into the service of my Lady, Palutena, I swore to protect the humans with my life. I had only ever come close to breaking that oath once. Now that I know I have broken it, my guilt is more than it has ever been. If you were alive I would plead for forgiveness."

Dark Pit watched the display in silence, but placed a hand on Pit's shoulder after the little speech. After a moment, Dark Pit said:

"Lilia was a forgiving person. I'm sure she would have forgiven you."

Pit stood up and said, "Thank you."

"So it was you," a voice called. Dark Pit at first recognized it as the Somewhat Staff that Pit carried. But, it struck a deeper chord of recognition.

"Ladon?!" Dark Pit questioned in shock.

"I should have killed you," the staff continued telling Pit. "I knew long ago that you had killed her; back even before I knew that she was my sister. But I held it in with my doubts and hoped that it would vanish with the mission. But I can't hide from this any longer. I don't care if you're to save the gods or not. I'm killing you right here, right now."

Dark Pit stepped forward, grabbed the staff, and looked it square in the eye. "NO!" he yelled. "I WON'T LET YOU!" Ladon was too shocked to reply. "Lilia made me promise not to change who I was before she died. When I gave into my hatred, I broke my promise to her. I won't allow you to fall into the same trap!"

More awkward minutes of silence passed as Dark Pit stared straight into the staff's eye. Dark Pit was shocked to feel an enormous force pushing him away from the staff. For a few seconds, none of his senses worked right.

Dark Pit came around just in time to hear Pit cry "Ladon! What are you doing?!"

"I WILL AVENGE HER!" Ladon yelled as he began glowing blood-red. "YOU ARE BOTH TRAITORS!"

"You are the traitor here," Dark Pit said calmly.

As the staff fired, Dark Pit drew his sword. Silently, he wished he'd already fused all those weapons he'd gotten from the Dark Agent. Too late now. Simultaneously, the angels charged the staff.

* * *

Aria stared at her hand intently. It wasn't her turn, but that didn't matter. It was Raven's turn, and she was hoping that Raven wouldn't ask for the three in her hand. Aria wanted that pair, as she was in dead last.

Aria watched nervously as Raven surveyed the group, trying to read their expressions. Despite her worry, Aria had a good poker face. Maybe too good.

"Aria," Raven called.

_Crap,_ Aria thought.

"Got any threes?"

"Nooooooooooooo," Aria wailed. However, she reluctantly handed her three over.

"Thank you," Raven said with mock politeness. Aria shot her a look which Raven totally missed.

She then turned to Vinnia. "Got any sevens?"

Vinnia smiled wickedly. "Go. Fish."

"Auuuuuugghhhhh!" Raven yelled. Aria just smiled smugly. Her rival's luck had run out. She didn't look too pleased with the card she got, either.

It was now Zephynn's turn. He was tied with Magnus at four pairs. Aria watched this round intently.

"Gaol," Zephynn said. "Got any sevens?" Raven shot Zephynn a look. Gaol, however, threw the card at him in disgust. "Raven, sevens?" As she gave him the card, she punched him in the arm. Ow!" the wind demigod cried. He held his arm and shot Raven a nasty look as he picked the card up and made the pair. Zephynn turned to Magnus. "Magnus, have any sixes?"

"Go fish," Magnus said, hiding his face with his cards, "wind boy."

Zephynn hit the table with his bad arm and screamed from the pain. Then he drew a card. It was now Vinnia's turn.

"Gaol," she said while glaring at the woman in question, "have any fours?"

"Go fish," was the cold reply.

Gaol was smug. She was sure that she could get a card from Vinnia this time. She looked at her hand, then finally settled on the card that she'd ask for. "Vinnia," she said confidently. "Do you have any fives?"

"Pursue aquatic life," she said with a mock smile.

"You suck," Gaol said under her breath as she drew her card.

"I heard that," Vinnia chirped.

Magnus was smiling. He had both of the cards that the women were asking for. He couldn't wait to see the look on their faces. He also couldn't wait to see how his rival would react to having his lead closed once again.

"Fours, fives, cough em' up," Magnus said while pointing to the two women. They grudgingly handed over the cards.

Gaol leaned over and whispered, "You're not sleeping in the bed tonight."

Magnus was displeased, but happy at his overall victory. Raven was staring in shock, Zephynn had his mouth wide open, Aria was growling in anger, and Vinnia slammed her head into the table.

Magnus then moved to take something from his rival. He hoped his luck still ran strong. "Zephynn, do you have any queens?"

"Go fish," Zephynn responded proudly.

Magnus calmly grabbed his card from the deck. "Fished my wish," he declared calmly as he set the pair on the table.

"Ugh," said Zephynn, slamming his fist into the table.

* * *

Pit was thrown to the ground by a charge shot from Ladon. Dark Pit charged forward with his blade surrounded by a fiery tornado. He hoped that combining the powers of his blade would stop the raging staff. Long story short, it didn't work.

Dark Pit was once again on his rear end recovering from a burning shot. Pit pulled out a Darkness Bow and began shooting three-round bursts. The angry aura absorbed Pit's bolts as if they were nothing.

Dark Pit got up and began sending a series of fireballs charged by his Obsidian Fist. These, though powerful, had no effect. Dark Pit had to let up the attack after a minute, or the Fist would drain too much stamina. Dark Pit was losing enough stamina as it was.

Dark Pit knew that another tactic would be needed. "LILIA WOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOU!"

The attack let up. Dark Pit couldn't read Ladon's emotions. He didn't have a face, after all. He was just glad that he had more or less gotten through. He looked at Pit. The angel was tired, but he didn't look near as bad as Dark Pit felt.

The Obsidian Fist's power really took a toll on his stamina. He'd have to force himself to work more with Aria. Her Silver Fist could charge the Obsidian one. Dark Pit stood, waiting for the staff's response.

"Lilia," Ladon said quietly to himself. He continued to float in mid-air. Pit returned his Darkness Bow to wherever he'd taken it from. Dark Pit retracted the blades of his sword and stuck it in his jacket. The two angels walked up to the staff.

"I apologize to you too," Pit said. "For what happened to you; in that I couldn't prevent it. Please understand, I feel guilt still. Now, if only you will forgive me, perhaps it will all leave me."

"I have nothing to apologize for," Dark Pit stated. "I've said my apologies."

The staff looked between the two angels.

"I am the one who should be sorry," Ladon said solemnly. "I let myself be blinded by rage. That is my fifth and most fatal skill."

"I don't really know what that means," Dark Pit said. "But I don't care. I'm leaving."

With that, Dark Pit turned to go back to the inn.

"Just like that?" Pit's voice called.

Dark Pit ignored him, intent on getting to the inn.

* * *

The tension in the room was tangible. An audience had gathered to watch the hotly contested card game. It was now Zephynn's move. Aria looked at him suspiciously. He knew something. If her hunch was right, he could break the tie with Magnus and take the game. She looked nervously at the deck, which only had one card left in it.

"Aria," he asked nervously. "Do you have any tens?"

Aria breathed a sigh of relief as she said, "Go fishing."

Zephynn slammed his fist into the table so hard that he hurt the arm again. He then reached for the last card in the deck. He picked it up and looked at it. Zephynn grinned wickedly as he put the card he drew with another one in his hand and slammed it onto the table.

"Fished my wish!" he exclaimed. "Magnus, ace. Gaol, jack. Vinnia, nine. Raven, three. Aria, two."

The group all groaned in defeat as they threw the cards that were called for at the now-winner. All except Magnus, who was acting so civil it was scary.

Aria's head turned towards the door and she gasped. Standing in total shock were two opposite colored angels. Everyone followed her gaze to the door.

"What's this about," Dark Pit asked.

"Go-Fish," was Raven's squeaky reply.

"Wait," Pit replied. "So this is all over a Go-Fish game?"

"Yes," Aria was quick to say.

The two angels facefaulted. Meanwhile, Magnus got up and walked over to Zephynn.

"Good game," Magnus said, taking the wind demigod's hand and shaking it. However, Magnus was thinking, _I'm going to find a way to get you for this._

* * *

**A/N Yes this is the last of the triple update. For those of you who don't watch anime, a facefault is when a character slams into the ground, face-first because they were shocked by something extremely stupid.**


	39. The Big Group

Chapter 38: The Big Group

The mega-group sat around a fire, enjoying their food. Gaol and Aria had tag-teamed to create it. It was another case of we-just-killed-this-off-the-side-of-the-road food. This time, it wasn't a deer. This time, it was a boar. The silence of the group was crushing.

After the facefault incident, the groups retired to their rooms. Later, though, Magnus suggested to the Dark Triad that the two teams travel together for a while. Magnus had learned at some point that Pit's team had acquired the last Underworld Key. Though everyone was against the idea, the fact that Pit's group had the key was undeniable logic. Of course, there was also the fact that both groups had the same destination. Long story short, Pit's team agreed to the proposal.

And so here they were. No one had anything to say. During the travel time, the groups had stayed out of earshot of each other. Now, interaction was unavoidable. The problem was that no one had the faintest idea of where to begin.

Dark Pit had an uncomfortable feeling that some people in Pit's group didn't particularly care for the Dark Angel. Vinnia, especially was giving him bad vibes. He could see hatred in the girl's eyes, even if she didn't say she hated him. Dark Pit would have to remedy that situation at some point in the future. Seriously, that girl looked downright evil at the moment. Dark Pit almost felt that she was plotting like an evil villain. He could have sworn he saw the villain laugh in her eyes.

Once the last bite had been consumed, Dark Pit decided that the silence was too much.

"Lovely weather," he said.

Crickets could be heard. Everyone stared at him as if he were crazy.

"Sorry!" He apologized fiercely. "I just couldn't stand the silence!"

"Why don't you just shut your mouth?" Pit asked in a very Dark Pit-like manner.

"What's going on?" Aria asked. "I'm confused."

It was confusing. The two angels were acting opposite of how they normally acted. Dark Pit figured that the angels' close proximity caused some of their personality traits to drift over their connection. Hopefully, it wouldn't lead to anything too bad. A brain swap was not something Dark Pit felt that he'd enjoy.

"Go-Fish, anyone?" Zephynn asked, pulling out his mysterious deck of cards. His smile said, 'Hi, I'm over-enthusiastic!' The answer to that question was clear in everyone's mind.

"NO!" rang out from every mouth except Zephynn's.

There was another awkward pause. No one knew what to say. It was extremely annoying. Dark Pit, however, felt the Pit-like traits wearing off. He could stand the silence. To prove it, he put on an indifferent expression. It was the best poker face ever. Soon, though, boredom began to sneak its way in. Dark Pit tried hard to keep it out, but he could not.

"You know," Raven spoke out, "there's a really fun experiment we can try. I learned it from my brother. It goes like this. Picture yourself at the ocean." The girl went on to ask about how people would approach ocean, actions they would take, and things up that alley.

Dark Pit found himself quite calmed by the exercise. It was one he would have to remember in the future. Of course, putting it against the sunrise had done a number to make it peaceful in his mind. He looked around the group. Almost everyone had received the exercise well. Vinnia was the sole exception. She looked like she was about to blast her cap. Dark Pit decided to do something about it.

"Hey," he said to everyone, but directed it towards Vinnia in particular. "Anyone want to spar and blow off some steam?"

There was no answer. Dark Pit felt as if he'd said the wrong think again.

Then: "Sure, bring it on," Vinnia said after letting loose and evil smile. He abrupt rise to her feet coupled with pulling her lance out of nowhere nearly knocked Zephynn onto his butt.

The group moved from the campfire to a meadow. It was a short walk. Behind them, Dark Pit heard the placement of bets. He didn't care. He was just glad to get a chance to fight someone without the pressure of trying to kill them.

The group made a circle in the meadow around the battlefield. Dark Pit took out his sword and stepped towards the middle. He decided to go easy, given that it was just an exercise. Vinnia, also stepped forward, still looking oddly evil. Dark Pit was almost disturbed by the look in her eye.

Magnus had taken the role of moderator. He stood between the two combatants with his arm raised.

"Ready?" Magnus asked Dark Pit.

Dark Pit nodded his head in response.

"Ready?" Magnus asked Vinnia.

"Oh yes," was the evil reply. An evil chuckle almost made Dark Pit question the wisdom of the match as well as the girl's sanity.

Magnus raised his arm higher.

"BEGIN!" he yelled, swinging his arm down. Vinnia charged forward so quickly that Magnus was almost speared. Dark Pit immediately went on the defensive. He now realized that the crazy blond girl was actually trying to kill him. Dark Pit took a healthy jump backwards.

"What the (blank) do you think you're (blanking) doing you crazy (blank)?!" Dark Pit yelled.

Vinnia didn't even hear him. Dark Pit was once again forced to evade. He had to concentrate so hard on not dying that he failed to notice everyone's shock at his use of such harsh language. They had never seen that level of color in his voice before. Even Dark Pit himself would have been surprised if he wasn't fighting for his life.

Dark Pit continued to evade the lightning fast attacks by skimming the border of the unofficial ring. He had to stay one step ahead of his crazed enemy. Truly, this fight had been a really bad idea. Dark Pit should have seen it coming. The way Vinnia looked at him should have tipped him off.

Finally, she got tired of trying to stab him and charged up a reddish blast. Dark Pit used his wind power to block the shot. Magnus had to jump out of the way of the deflected bolt. Dark Pit was glad that he fused the weapons that he'd taken from the Dark Agent. The added power gave his wind enough strength to keep the lance from going through his face. He needed to subdue her fast.

He combined the power of the wind and Samurai blades he'd absorbed and used the blast. His aim was perfect, as the lance was knocked out of Vinnia's hands. When she turned to retrieve it, Dark Pit kicked her hard in the back of the head. The result in two letters: KO.

The group gathered around the unconscious blond. Pit was the conversation started.

"Yeah, no more sparring matches. Especially with her. I don't know what got into her. Geez, I know she's a bit aggressive like her mom, but-"

"Let's just leave it at no more duels," Dark Pit cut in. After a nod of agreement, the group set up camp in the meadow and went to bed.

**A/N: As of today, Mystery of the Somewhat Staff will only be available through RonnyBravo's account. Dark Triad will also only be available through my account.**


	40. Prank Prank Prank

Chapter 39: Prank Prank Prank

Magnus was off in the woods setting a little trap. He hadn't forgotten his humiliating loss to Zephynn in the Go-Fish game. He acted civil about it, but he'd been plotting revenge ever since. He would have to set the trap with precision. He'd then also have make sure that only Zephynn fell for it. It would be problematic if someone else fell for it. Especially Vinnia.

That girl was crazy. She woke up in the middle of the night and tried to kill Dark Pit in his sleep. If Magnus hadn't been awake, Dark Pit would be dead. He was, however, awake at that hour and was able to stop the assassination. Of course, Magnus never would have known Vinnia's deadly intentions if it wasn't for the lance in her hand. Her position on top of the sleeping angel was very compromising.

Magnus put the final touches on his little trap. He'd have to lure Zephynn into the trap soon, or the stench of it would become enough to warn his unsuspecting victim. He needed Zephynn to fall for this. It would be the perfect revenge.

Magnus heard voices approaching. The group must think that he'd been out scouting too long. They were coming to look for him. He hoped Zephynn was in the front. If he wasn't, then Magnus would have a hard time dealing with the victim.

The group came around a bend in the path. Leading it was Zephynn, Dark Pit, and Gaol. They were standing parallel to each other. They were all going to get hit. That wasn't good. He only wanted Zephynn to be hit. _But how to separate them._ Magnus lost himself in thought, temporarily becoming unaware of the group that was closing on his trap. He looked up in time to see them two feet from the trip-wire. He was too late.

"STOP!" Magnus yelled as the fish descended from the tree and slapped Zephynn, Dark Pit, and Gaol in the face, nearly knocking them over. His fish-slapping trap had caught unintended victims. Gaol was one of them. Magnus was sure that his wife would make him pay for it later.

An awkward silence ensued. Magnus stared at Zephynn smugly. However, his face was apologetic when he observed Gaol and Dark Pit's reaction. Silence continued.

Gaol stepped forward calmly and said, "Honey, what was that?"

Magnus realized that he was in danger. His answer would determine the state of his marriage for the next few days. "It was a trap meant for Zephynn."

"I knew it," Zephynn said, scowling. "To think a grown man would go so far as to exact revenge for a simple Go-Fish loss."

"How juvenile," Dark Pit muttered.

Magnus ignored Dark Pit's comment. "You were there," he said to Zephynn. "That was an intense game. Winning it was a huge honor."

"Whatever," Dark Pit stated as he advanced forward. Everyone followed.

* * *

Gaol was not happy. Magnus's little prank was quite childish. Seriously, he should have been more civil. But he wasn't. And Gaol had been slapped in the face with smelly fish; a smell that was still following her. She hated the smell of fish. And the slap had been rather humiliating. Soon, she came with a little revenge of her own.

What she came up with was probably even more juvenile than what Magnus had done. In fact, it made her embarrassed that she had scolded him. But it would be very satisfying. Yes, very satisfying indeed.

They were sitting around dinner. Vinnia decided that she was hungry, so she hit the cooking pot. She made a stew out of the leftover deer meat. It was simple, and easy to make. Everyone quite enjoyed it.

Dark Pit and Pit were whispering about something. Nobody could hear them, but nobody really cared, either. Besides them, the place was quiet. Everyone just sort of stared at each other. Vinnia never stopped giving glares to Dark Pit. It likely had to do with the fact that he was the only one who ate something other than Vinnia's food. Gaol guessed it was because the Dark Angel feared that his food had been poisoned by the vengeful demigod.

Magnus had just gotten up for seconds when Gaol decided to strike.

"How was your ballerina dream last night, honey?" she said. Magnus stood shock still. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You were singing, and I quote, 'I'm a pretty ballerina,' in your sleep."

She might as well have kicked him over. He fell right into the stew and splashed everyone, except Gaol. She grinned wickedly until everyone got up and glared daggers at her, except Magnus. He was too shocked to do anything but lay where he was.

"What was that for?! You made him ruin my stew!" Vinnia yelled.

"Your stew wasn't anything special," Gaol retaliated. "Mediocre by my standards."

Vinnia had her lance at Gaol's throat in a flash. "Take that back!" the blond yelled.

Gaol summoned her armor and locked eyes with Vinnia. Magnus got up to intervene.

With a dazed look in his eye, Magnus said, "Girls, don't fight over a silly prank."

The girls looked at each other with embarrassment written all over their features. They all went to bed after that, but no one was particularly happy. One more childish prank would set them all off.

* * *

Dark Pit awoke at dawn. He moved to climb a tree in order to watch the majesty of the sunrise. It had a calming effect on his nerves. These childish pranks were really starting to get to him. First there was that ridiculous Go-Fish game. Then there was Magnus's immature fish slapper. That was followed up by Gaol's even more immature revelation of Magnus's dreams. That one was just disturbing.

The first rays of the sun filled his eyelids. He felt its warmth wash over him as dawn arrived. He felt his frazzled nerves slowly settle. He allowed the calm to wash over him as he thought. His mind wandered to random places. He thought about the things he'd done over the years. He thought about what he was doing now. He also thought that nothing would be able to disturb him.

A move caught Dark Pit's eye. He looked below from where he was sitting and saw Pit walking through the woods. _What the heck is he up to?_ Dark Pit stealthily jumped from tree to tree, tracking his double's movements.

He watched as Pit gathered random materials. Dark Pit couldn't guess as to what Pit was doing. The materials only had one thing in common: they were all stringy and long. And they looked fairly tough.

Slowly, things came together for Dark Pit. Pit was making a net. _But why on earth would he want to do that? What the heck is he trying to catch?_ He watched as Pit strung the net to a bunch of trees. Then the angel took extreme measures to cover it. Then he rigged up a counterweight system to cause the net to rise when someone stepped in the middle.

He hopped out of the tree and approached his goody-two-shoes twin.

"What are you up to?" Dark Pit asked, causing Pit to jump.

"Umm, nothing," he said nervously.

"Really," Dark Pit stated, drawing it out. "Then what is the net for?"

Dark Pit swore he saw something gleam in Pit's eyes. It was as if the answer to a mystery presented itself.

"I saw an enormous deer come through here before the sun rose. I'm going to trap it."

"O.K.," Dark Pit said, again drawing it out.

"Hey," Pit said. "I need you to do something for me."

"What?"

"Could you get the others to come here? I'm certain I'll have it caught soon."

"Sure," Dark Pit said, certain that something else was going on, but unable to place what it was. Something wasn't right, but that shouldn't be. The light angel was good at heart, and wasn't really capable of making mischief, especially if it required intelligent planning.

Semi-confident in his conclusion, Dark Pit went to get the others. He moved back into the direction of camp.

He came upon the most unusual scene. His first thought was to look directly towards Vinnia. She was stamping her foot into the ground. Why she was doing that, Dark Pit couldn't guess. Magnus and Gaol were in some sort of awkward stare off. That wasn't too hard to figure out. Aria was staring at Raven, who was in turn staring at the ground. Everyone seemed tense. Understandable, given recent events. They all turned to stare at him.

"I don't exactly know what's going on," Dark Pit began, "but Pit's setting a trap for a deer that he saw. He wanted us all to go look. He said he'd have it caught when we got there."

Everyone slowly got up and gathered their things. They were all extremely cautious. Dark Pit then moved into the woods to lead them to Pit's location. The trip went uneventful. No one did anything of significance. Then Dark Pit was sure that he was approaching the site Pit had staked out. But Pit was nowhere to be found. Dark Pit wondered what was going on.

He realized it too late. That net was a trap set for the team. Right as Dark Pit was going to voice his warning; the net snapped up and smashed them all together in a tight bundle. Cries of shock and pain were heard as the team was smashed into each other.

_Real mature,_ Dark Pit thought as he heard the other angel's laughter. _He set me up. And I was dumb enough to fall for it. Worse, I dragged everyone else into it. Although, a few of them deserve it._

One thing was for certain, this wasn't going to end.

* * *

A/N: I'm so sorry that this took so long to get out. But school started, and I've had 4 to 5 hours of homework a night. What's worse, RonnyBravo is in the same boat, although he still manages to make time to write (I don't know how he does it). Anyway, we finally got time to finish this. So I hope that you enjoyed.


	41. 8 Vs 5

Chapter 40: 8 VS. 5

Dark Pit shuddered as he remembered the events of the previous day. After the net incident, an all-out prank war ensued. Everyone except Zephynn pulled a prank on someone that day. People were bruised, battered, splattered, and generally made miserable.

It was terrible. True, it was fun when he did it, but he was on the receiving end often enough that his joy was completely and thoroughly eliminated. It rather sucked. But the last straw had occurred at dinner.

Vinnia had made the food, and no one saw it coming. After all, her simple stew was pretty good. Whether she did it on purpose or not will probably be never known, but, that night, she decided to get "creative" with her cooking. It smelled odd, but no one paid that fact any mind. It was when they swallowed that things went very wrong.

The intense pain was indescribable. Everyone except Dark Pit and Magnus fell unconscious. Well, Vinnia remained conscious as well, but she never had a bite. To make matters worse, the madwoman laughed at them. After vomiting, Dark Pit gave her a taste of her own medicine by having her eat a bite. Seeing her fall unconscious was extremely satisfying.

Once everyone had woken up, Ladon intervened. He scolded all of them on how childish they were being and told them to get their act together. Everyone except Zephynn had gone to bed shamefaced that night.

And now they were all headed to the volcanic southeast mountain range that separated them from the Underworld gate. They were in the southern plains. They had left the forest behind at around midday the previous day. How they made any progress that day is unknown, but they did.

Dark Pit watched as Magnus moved towards Zephynn. The dark angel observed this with interest, wondering what the big man would do. Dark Pit noted that Zephynn's walk became more agitated as Magnus approached.

"I'm sorry about the fish thing," Magnus said.

Zephynn was shocked and a little disarmed by the apology.

"Well," Zephynn replied, "it's all right. I mean it's past now, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Magnus finished, sticking out his hand. Zephynn accepted the hand and shook it tentatively. As Magnus walked back to Gaol, Dark Pit noted something interesting. Zephynn looked as if he just noticed the presence of someone he really hated.

However, Dark Pit dismissed the Zephynn thing, as something even more interesting was going on. Aria left his side and walked over to Vinnia. Vinnia appeared to be lost deep in thought.

"Hey," Aria said to get Vinnia's attention. "Is something on your mind?"

"Why do you care? Dark angel lover."

Aria seemed a little taken aback. If he was human, Dark Pit wouldn't have been able to hear what Aria said next.

"How do you know that?" Aria asked quietly.

"What?" Vinnia asked. It wasn't anything that could draw attention, but Dark Pit was interested in seeing where it would go.

"Wait, you weren't talking about _that?_"

"What is '_that_'?"

"Uuuummmmm…" Aria said, a little flustered.

"Are you two, like, in a relationship or something?" Vinnia threw out. She sounded as if she didn't really believe it.

Dark Pit just caught a glimpse of Aria's blush.

"That's why you left?! Because you _like_ him?!"

Aria nodded the affirmative, her blush deepening.

"You…like…" Vinnia facefaulted, drawing everyone's attention. The group stopped, allowing Vinnia time to regain her composition.

"Vinnia, are you ok?" Pit asked the girl as she stood up.

"I'm fine," she responded, a bitter edge in her voice. She shot a glare at Aria. Aria wondered why the girl was suddenly so hostile.

"Anything else I need to know about before we move on?" Vinnia asked sarcastically.

"Ok girls," Zephynn interrupted, "let's leave this drama for some other time."

Vinnia was so angry that she nearly pulled her lance. Luckily, Ladon flew from Pit's hand and stopped her before she could go through with it.

"Ah, ah ,ah," the staff scolded, causing Vinnia to return her lance to its proper place while muttering something that Dark Pit didn't quite catch.

Dark Pit noted something else interesting. Pit was squinting from something being reflected into his eyes. Dark Pit had no idea what he source was, but Pit was sure to bring it up. Dark Pit would not be disappointed.

"All right, who's shining that light in my eyes?" the angel stated. He then turned to face the group, who stopped. The angel moved his head to the side, trying to get the light to stop reflecting into his eyes. His line of sight was pointed at Magnus. It then shifted to Gaol. Stunned realization was in the angel's eyes.

"Wait a minute," the angel stated, "are you two…?" he trailed off.

"Married?" Magnus asked. Before a response could come, Magnus simply said, "Yes."

Pit just stared wide-eyed, mouth agape. Vinnia had a face that told of disgust and annoyance. Zephynn had a look of acceptance, even if it was a little sudden. Raven wasn't even paying attention. Dark Triad, of course, already knew about the marriage and wasn't shocked.

"So," Zephynn began, "how long have you two been together?" Before he could get a response to his question, Zepynn's face went pale. "LOOK OUT!" he screamed at Magnus.

Magnus drew his sword, whipped around, and blocked a Predator Cannon shot. The entire group turned to face where the shot had come from. From somewhere out of sight, a Dark Agent appeared, carrying the offending Predator Cannon. Four more Dark Agents appeared in the same way. One was wielding a Poseidon Cannon, one had a Twinbellows Cannon, one had a Leo Cannon, and the last one had a Dynamo Cannon.

The mega team didn't stand idle. They each drew their vast array of weapons. Except for Raven, who took to hiding behind Vinnia. Dark Pit would not have wanted be on the receiving end of such an impressive display of power. Each group member assumed a battle-ready stance.

Dark Pit stepped forward and said, "Big mistake." He leveled his sword at the one with the Predator Cannon and launched a green blast powered by the Gaol Blade he'd absorbed a few days earlier. The Dark Agent used the cannon as a shield to block the shot.

All the combatants, except Raven, charged forward. Chaos was unleashed. Explosions occurred left and right. Attacks were dealt, received, and blocked. Dark Pit weaved in and out of attacks. He managed to strike a few blows here and there, but the five agents were very fast despite the size of their weapons. However, the agents were outnumbered. The agents generally did more blocking than shooting.

Magnus and Gaol were tag-teaming the agent with the Leo Cannon. Dark Pit and Aria took turns firing at the man with the Predator Cannon as well as the man with the man with the Twinbellows Cannon. Vinnia and Zephynn were defending Raven against the one with the Poseidon Cannon. Pit was soloing the guy with the Dynamo Cannon.

Dark Pit was currently engaged with the agent who had the Twinbellows Cannon. He dodged a fiery blast, only to send a ball of flame of his own. He felt Aria brush up against his back and he switched places with her, focusing now on the guy with the Predator Cannon. Dark Pit dodged out of the way of the crescent-like standard shots, while coming closer with each dodge. When he was close enough, he summoned the power of the Obsidian Fist and swung. He melee attacked the man back and forth for several seconds. Dark Pit sensed something off, behind him. Dark Pit jumped out of the way just as a ball of fire moved through the spot he'd just occupied. The ball of fire slammed into the Predator Cannon as the agent carrying it attempted to block.

Magnus and Gaol were easily forcing the man holding the Leo Cannon to defend. Whenever the guy thought he had a clear shot at Magnus or Gaol, the other would leap in and change the game. However, the agent was no slouch. He dodged with the grace of an acrobat, often allowing him to get shots in at the couple. Magnus watched as Gaol climbed into the air, releasing pointed blue bolts at Mr. Leo Cannon. Magnus charged while the agent's attention was on the bolts.

The agent caught Magnus's charge out of the corner of his eye and deftly dodged his way out of Gaol's bolts. He then met Magnus's sword with the face of his cannon. Magnus barely got his head out of the lion's maw before the blast came. By this time, Gaol had returned to the ground was charging in with a force field of energy preceding her.

The man with the Leo Cannon took the full force of Gaol's charge. He went flying and collided with the agent who was hit by friendly fire. The two agents hit each other so hard that they were knocked out.

Dark Triad turned the full force of their attention to the agent with the Twinbellows Cannon. The guy sweatdropped, clearly realizing what a bad situation he was in. The guy looked around for a friend. He noticed that the one with the Poseidon Cannon was in the middle of drowning. Using the force of an explosion as a rocket, the guy was able to get over to his friend just as Dark Triad closed on his position.

Dark Triad followed the Twinbellows agent to where he'd landed. However, the guy with the Twinbellows cannon was in trouble. Even though the agent with the Poseidon Cannon was no longer drowning, he couldn't help his friend out against the wrath of Vinnia. The guy visibly panicked when he saw Dark Triad following him.

However, the guy with the Poseidon Cannon was just revived enough to throw up a wall of water to stand in Triad's way. Dark Triad was forced to stand there as they could not penetrate the wall without being hydro-blasted apart.

A figure was shot through the wall. The Twinbellows agent fell on the floor, his clothing torn in many places by the water barrier. Just as he was standing, Magnus kicked him in the head, effectively knocking him out.

Dark Pit turned his attention back to the barrier. Somehow, Vinnia had made it through the barrier unscathed. It was just in time, too; as the barrier collapsed onto the agent inside. The man was lying on the ground, coughing up a storm. He looked up just in time to see Zephynn's sword come down. The blade sliced an ugly hole on the man's back. The pain was intense enough to knock the agent out.

Everyone turned their attention to the last remaining Dark Agent, who was currently engaging Pit in a solo battle. Pit was holding his own against the agent. The man was surprisingly fast. Apparently, his wits were as fast as his body. As soon as he noticed the attention of the other seven members of the mega-group directed at him, he paused mid-strike and paled visibly. Pit turned his head and saw the sight of his allies and the four collapsed agents. He smirked at his friend's success.

Dark Pit returned the smirk, but no one really noticed. The Dark Agent, meanwhile, had dropped his weapon and sank to his knees.

"Mercy," the agent pleaded softly.

"Who employs you?" Pit demanded. Before the man could answer, Dark Pit stepped forward and said:

"That won't work."

"So I was right," the light angel said, returning his attention to the Dark Agent. "It seems that your boss has a flair for secrecy."

The Dark Agent opened his mouth to speak. Dark Pit lunged forward, trying to stop him, but the angel knew that he was too late. The agent and his friends all combusted into yellow flames. Within seconds, nothing was left of them but ash.

* * *

**A/N: Here it is, the first battle with all eight protagonists acting as a team. This chapter is dedicated to Maikou, whose review on Somewhat Staff inspired me to shift the focus of this chapter from comedy to battle. Seriously, RonnyBravo and I scrapped 1000+ words because we didn't feel that it was fitting. So, thank you again, Maikou, for giving us a better idea.**


	42. Death Crossing

Chapter 41: Death Crossing

The group was into the mountain range, at long last. They had been traveling for two days since the incident with the Dark Agents. They had entered the mountains as planned. However, none of them knew that that particular area of the range was _extremely_ volcanic. Seriously, it was insane how hot that place was. They lost a ton of time avoiding areas that were too hot for the non-immortals, and Zephynn, to handle.

It was really annoying. But it would be worth it in the end. They were planning on stopping at Gaol's old base. Everyone was looking forward to the accommodations. Especially the hot-springs. Everyone loved the hot-springs.

But right now, there was a severe problem facing them. It was about 1000 feet wide and was probably in the thousands of degrees of heat. Dark Pit looked down the cliff-face at the boiling river of lava.

It was a problem that had been vexing them for the past two hours. Add that to the four hours of getting around overly hot obstacles, and you get about six hours of delay time total.

"What I wouldn't give to be able to fly right now," Pit blurted.

"Wait a minute, he can fly!" Zephynn responded, pointing at Dark Pit.

Dark Pit shrugged and said, "Sorry, no-can-do. My flight is extremely limited. I would only be able to get one or two of you across, at most, before my power runs out."

Everyone sat in silence as the contemplated this obstacle.

"Why don't we follow the path of the river?" Magnus suggested. "Lava cools rather quickly. I'm sure we could find a place to cross."

"Even if we could find a place where we could cross, it would still be too hot for most of us to survive," Dark Pit replied.

A couple more ideas were knocked around. All were rejected, simply because they wouldn't work. Even the most promising idea had zero chance of success. Someone had suggested that Raven use her water abilities to cool a path in the river, but she had said that there wasn't enough water around her to make her powers much use. She had said that if she tried, the effort would kill her and there would only be a slab of rock.

Another promising idea was also rejected. Someone had suggested that Gaol fly them across with her armor. She, however, debunked that idea by stating that she could only hover. In order to cross the river, they would have to get so close to the lava that the heat would kill the passenger and roast Gaol alive.

Another round of silence passed over the stumped group.

Finally, Gaol's face lit up.

"Why don't we try to split the river somehow?" she suggested.

"That might work," Magnus responded, despite the looks everyone was giving his wife. Those same looks were directed at him after he spoke. "It's not like we don't have the fire-power. We just need a plan on how to use it."

"What about that one thing you did when you tried to kill Vinnia and me?" Pit suggested.

Dark Pit caught on to what Pit was saying. "You're suggesting that we all combine our fire-power in the Dark Triad's special move?"

"It's worth a shot," the light angel replied.

"We still have one problem," Dark Pit stated. "Even if the force is enough to split the river, how can we keep it split? Plus, how do we survive the heat?"

Zephynn stepped into attention and stated, "I think I might be able to handle that."

"How?" Dark Pit questioned cynically.

"Let's just try it and see," Vinnia said annoyed.

A chorus of "I agree" followed. Dark Pit's objection was overruled. The angel stood and sighed, hoping that they weren't marching to their deaths. The group headed to the path that would take them to the bottom of the cliff.

* * *

Ten minutes later, they were as far down as they could get without dying. They had decide that they would use the special move, except the first step would be supercharged. Everyone except Zephynn would contribute the initial charge, which Magnus would catch, magnify, and relay to Dark Pit, who would complete the move.

Dark Pit activated the Power of Flight and flew out as far as he could. He didn't go too far, as he wanted to have enough energy to fire the special move and still get to the other side. Everyone except Zephynn stood around Magnus in a semi-circle. They all began charging energy from their weapons. Dark Pit briefly wondered if he'd be able to handle all that force. He put the thought out of his mind, as that kind of thinking would get them all killed.

"3…2…1…Fire!" Gaol shouted. Everyone released their energy at Magnus. The big man caught all the energies at once, and swung them at Dark Pit. As they left the sword, they combined and magnified into a single, rainbow colored ball. Dark Pit readied the special attack. He caught the energy ball on the tip of his blade and released the power of his special attack into it.

A blast of light and a hail of arrows shot downwards towards the river of lava. As soon as it hit, the lava was separated. Zephynn ran forward and used his power to make a hole in the blast wall, and maintain a path from the middle of the river. Everyone ran past the wind user, trying to reach the far shore before Zephynn ran out of energy.

Dark Pit touched down first. He was flying, so he had the easiest time crossing. One by one, everyone made the shore. However, Dark Pit noticed with great alarm that Zephynn was not moving. Without thinking, Dark Pit kicked his Power of Flight back on and into full gear, and charged at the wind demigod.

Dark Pit grabbed the demigod just as the wind power ran out. Dark Pit then turned abruptly and shot back towards the shore. His flight died about three quarters of the way there. The two of them were now flying to the shore with no propulsion. Dark Pit felt their angle start to move towards the lava. He stretched out his defective winds and did his best to angle them so that they'd land in the safety zone.

Long story short, it worked. Dark Pit and Zephynn were scraped up pretty bad from their landing, but they'd be OK in the end.

"Never again," Dark Pit muttered as he stood up. His normal, stoic visage replaced the concern that he'd had for Zephynn. However, certain people had noted Dark Pit's concern before it disappeared. Dark Pit was secretly glad that he'd found another reason to receive Aria's approval.

"Hmph," Vinnia huffed, with a frown. "So you do have a degree of concern for other people's well-being. Shocking."

Pit walked over to Zephynn, helped him up, and offered support as the group headed towards Gaol's former base.

* * *

**A/N: Hello everyone. Game777Guy, collaborating with RonnyBravo, is here with the new chapter. It's a bit short, but it's fun. Enjoy and please, for the love of (insert name), review!**


	43. The Last Deep Breath

Chapter 42: The Last Deep Breath

Dark Pit let out a deep sigh as he sunk into the hot spring. It was really convenient that Gaol's former base still had that. It felt really good to kick back and relax before going into the Underworld. The heat of the water just soaked straight into his bones and eased the stress out of his tired body and mind. Oddly enough, the only one not taking advantage of the hot spring was Raven.

The group had arrived at the base the night before and had gone straight to bed. It was now the next morning, and everyone agreed that a little rejuvenation was in order before they headed out to what would most likely be their doom. But, that was tomorrow's business. Right now, Dark Pit just wanted to relax. Not only did he get to relax, though, he also got to heal the bumps and bruises that all the fighting had built up.

Dark Pit heard Magnus let out a contented sigh of his own. "I didn't realize how relaxing hot springs were."

"I know, right?" Pit stated. "It's not like those time that you were too focused on fighting or…um…you know."

"Know what?"

"Like, you know," Pit replied embarrassedly, "that one time…when I was…um…"

"I'm listening."

"A ring…"

Realization graced Magnus's face. "Oh," he started. "Right. I still owe you a knuckle sandwich for that one," the big man stated bluntly, causing Pit to flinch. "Just kidding," Magnus said good-naturedly.

Dark Pit looked directly at Pit, and noticed that the angel was the only one not in some sort of swim wear.

"Do you always go in dressed?" Dark Pit asked Pit.

"Well yeah," Pit responded. Then, with chest puffed out, "An angel always has to be ready for duty if it calls."

"Yaaaaawwwn," Dark Pit responded.

At the same time, Zephynn said, "Duty if it calls, huh?"

Pit went red in the face, clearly embarrassed. "Um… well…I…"

Aria laughed out loud at Pit's reaction. When she was finally done doubling over, she said, "Good one Zephynn."

It was Zephynn's turn to get red in the face. "Um… well…thanks…I guess."

"Don't get any ideas," Aria responded quickly. "I only have eyes for one person." She slid up next to Dark Pit and gave him a hug. The public display of affection was a little embarrassing to the dark angel, but, despite his flaming cheeks, did nothing to stop Aria.

Vinnia was not amused. "Ugh, gross. I'm getting out." The nature demigod stood up, drawing everyone's gaze. The coloring of the hot spring had disguised what Dark Pit guessed was Raven's prank extremely well. Vinnia's normally pale, white skin was now a very noticeable yellow.

"What are you looking at," she asked rudely.

"Um," Gaol started. "Look at your arms."

Dark Pit, and everyone else, covered their ears at the piercing screech that followed. Dark Pit felt that if the prank's mastermind, likely Raven, could hear it, then that person, likely Raven, would be grinning to him or, more likely, herself at that moment. Dark Pit would get to the bottom of it, not that it would take much effort.

* * *

An hour later, Dark Pit was in his and Aria's room, scrubbing the last of the yellow off of his body. That done, he slipped back into his clothes. He was glad that his under-suit was black, as it didn't show any of the yellow dye that was used.

Ultimately, Dark Pit had left the finding of Raven to Pit's team, as inter-team conflict was not what they needed right then. After all, they were so close to achieving their goals. If they were lucky, they could accomplish their goal within a day after entering the Underworld.

Dark Pit heard a knock on the door.

"May I come in?" Aria's voice sounded. "Are you decent?"

"Yes to both," Dark Pit responded.

The door opened, admitting the girl into the room. Aria stepped in, looking none the worse despite the prank. Her skin was back to its normal white color. She seemed calm enough.

"Are you ready for this?" she asked him.

"For what?" he asked, not understanding what she meant.

"For the Underworld."

"I'm more than ready. I'm sick of this quest and can't wait for it to be over."

"I kind of understand what you mean."

There was an awkward pause. An idea occurred to Dark Pit in this time, but he hesitated on whether or not to voice it. She wouldn't like it; that was for certain. But it _was_ for her own safety. They'd been through a lot together, and he didn't want to see her hurt in any way. He wanted to begin a true relationship with her, he wanted to love her, but she needed to be safe and alive for that to happen. Ultimately, it was this line of thought that gave him the courage to voice his thought.

"Aria," he said, hesitating. "Maybe…maybe it would be better if you stayed here in safety."

She grew stern. "How could you think of saying that?" She sounded a little hurt.

"It's not that I don't trust you, but I don't want to see you hurt. You did your part; you helped us get the keys. There is no reason for you to continue further. You should just stay here, so I don't have to worry."

"So, I'm nothing more than baggage to you now?" She sounded like she was starting to get pissed.

"I didn't say that."

"That's what it sounded like to me."

"What I mean is, I don't want to have to worry about your safety. You are important to me. I want to feel confident that you'll be here for me when I return."

"You selfish jerk! Didn't you even think of how I feel? If you go into that gate and don't come out, do you know how that would hurt? I want the same future you do, and being suspended in ignorance would kill me!"

Dark Pit thought on her words for a number of minutes while she fumed. "I'm sorry," he said at last. "You're right; it wouldn't be fair of me to leave you here to worry about my safety. Just forget I mentioned it."

Aria softened. "Thank you," she stated, much calmer. "And I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have snapped at you so easily. Deep down, I know that you really are concerned."

Dark Pit sighed. "I still feel like it's a bad idea, but if you're happy, I can live with it."

"Thank you."

* * *

The entire group stared down a cliff face into a wasteland. Dark Pit couldn't help but glance at Aria nervously. He couldn't shake the feeling in his gut that taking Aria with them any further was a bad idea. Magnus and Gaol stood next to each other confidently, ready to face the future. Raven hid behind Vinnia, who was standing tall and confident. Zephynn looked like he was trying, and partially succeeding, to steady his nerves. Pit was observing everyone.

"Well," Magnus stated, "let's go."

And so, an hour and a half before noon, the group descended into the wasteland, headed for a conspicuous rock that was quite possibly the entrance to the Underworld. All were nervous, and none knew what to expect.

* * *

**A/N: Hello everyone. So there you have it, the next chapter. This the second to last chapter where we will see the super-group. In chapter 43, they will break up. Also, this story is entering its final act. I hope you have like it thus far and continue to read it to its conclusion. Please review. Game777Guy out.**


	44. The Plunge

Chapter 43: The Plunge

Dark Pit walked forward at the head of the group with Pit at his side. They were headed towards the rock that was in the middle of the wastelands. Dark Pit had learned from Aria that that was their destination. Inside that rock was the only gate to the Underworld that mortals could access. This was how Dark Triad would complete their mission.

The group arrived at the enormous boulder. Right in front of them was a door with an Underworld symbol on it. It had no latch, and it looked as if they could just slide it right open.

"This is it," Pit said.

The angels stepped forward and set their shoulders to the door. Dark Pit opened the left side, while Pit opened the right. The double-door swung inwards, revealing an unadorned stone hallway. The massive group took a collective deep breath and then entered the hallway.

The hallway stretched on for only 20 feet. At the end was a circular chamber with five pillars in it. The pillars, however, were split in half about half-way between the floor and the ceiling. The gaps were just large enough for the underworld keys to fit inside.

As soon as the last member of the group had entered the room, a stone slab rose from the floor, trapping them in the chamber.

"Well," Magnus stated, "no turning back now."

Dark Pit nodded in agreement.

"Take the keys and place them into the pillars," Dark Pit ordered. Dark Pit passed out three of the keys that he had, keeping one for him to place in the pillar. Dark Pit, Pit, Magnus, Aria, and Vinnia each approached a pillar and placed a key in each. Dark Pit was the last person to place his key.

The room began to shake violently as the keys began releasing a purple light. Everyone drew their weapons, unsure of what to expect. The light increased to blinding proportions. Dark Pit was forced to shield his eyes. When the light finally disappeared, the floor was gone. Literally, gone. Dark Pit was so caught off guard by the sudden fall that he couldn't do anything.

Dark Pit caught sight of five points of light descending from above them. The Underworld keys were falling faster than the group was, and still surging with energy. The keys stopped a point far below them and made an eye-shaped portal. As the group approached the portal, Dark Pit felt the energy from it slow their fall. When they passed through it, they were moving at a speed that would make for a light landing.

Dark Pit saw orange-tinted ground materialize out of the portal's blinding white light. The entire group landed gently. Dark Pit was disoriented, but he slowly regained his bearings.

They were in a flat, orange-tinted, dirt plain with a black sky overhead. Immediately surrounding them was a circle with five pillars around it, their escape route. Surrounding the group was a ring of mountains. To the east, the mountains were black, and Dark Pit could just make out the Rewind Spring past one of their peaks. Everywhere else, the mountains maintained the orange tint. In the west, Medusa's old fortress loomed.

"Our paths split here," Dark Pit said.

"Ok, how are we going to get out of here when we are done with this business?" Vinnia asked.

"We use the keys on these pillars around us," Dark Pit answered. "I suggest that we keep three keys and give the other two to you guys."

"Why do you get three?" Vinnia whined.

"It doesn't matter how we split them," Dark Pit stated. "None of us can leave without _all_ five of them. This way, we can only leave when both of our groups are finished here."

"I agree," Pit stepped in. "Let's take our keys and get this over with."

Pit and his team took two of the keys and left Dark Triad behind, headed to the northwest. Dark Pit and his team remained behind. In all honesty, Dark Pit was glad that it was just him and his team now. He may have made peace with Pit and his crew, but Dark Pit didn't like being around them too much.

"Well," he said, "we should go."

"Right," Magnus said.

"Aria," Dark Pit called.

"I'm here," she said, walking up to his side.

"We're looking for a fortress with a high concentration of souls. Can you find it?"

Aria closed her eyes as she focused her mysterious powers.

"It's that way," she said after a few minutes. She pointed towards the dark mountains. "I can't be more precise until we get closer."

"Well," Goal put in. "No sense wasting time. We should get moving."

"I agree," Magnus stated.

Dark Pit took that as his cue to begin walking.

They reached the black mountains only an hour and a half after leaving the Underworld entrance. The plain, despite its enormous appearance, was actually rather small. About ten minutes after leaving, Dark Pit had sensed that Pit had encountered monster trouble. Dark Pit was grateful that his team had not encountered that plague. Of course, he wasn't going to rescue gods. Dark Pit guessed that there would be more priority in protecting the god's prisons than protecting a soul conversion fortress. Of course, that didn't mean that the guard at the fortress would be lax. In fact, Dark Pit could not shake the feeling that something was going to go horridly wrong when they arrived at their destination.

He looked at Aria. He was still on edge about her coming. He was glad that she could continue to be of help, of course, but he still felt nervous. All of his bad feeling was centered on her. Why couldn't he shake it? He had no answer. In the end, he just decided to count his blessings. At least, with her there, he could keep an eye on her and she could continue to help the group. Hopefully, those positives would outbalance Dark Pit's gut feeling.


	45. Approaching the Fortress

Chapter 44: Approaching the Fortress

Dark Pit held his weapon at the ready. Ever since they had entered the mountains, Dark Triad had been plagued by monsters. Monoeyes, Miks, Specknoses, Ganewmeds, and other such annoyances haunted their every step. The going had been slow, and the had only managed to travel five miles in the hour-and-a-half after their entrance to the mountains.

A horde of monoeyes came from around the mountain to their left. Dark Pit decided to use the Laser Staff capabilities that he'd absorbed into his weapon to pick that particular group off. Most of the group vanished in a puff of smoke before they could even get close to the Dark Triad. Aria and Gaol teamed up to take down the stragglers, and the one that survived all of that was easily knocked aside by Magnus.

The group pressed ever deeper into the mountains, following Aria's advice at every turn. This didn't always work out too well, though. Aria could sense their proximity to their destination, but not the path that led to it. As such, they often found themselves at dead ends and having to turn around in an attempt to find another path.

"I am not enjoying coming back here," Dark Pit muttered.

"You've been here before?" Aria questioned.

"Yes," Dark Pit answered reluctantly. "It was three years ago, during the war."

When Dark Pit remained silent, Aria pressed for an answer. "What happened?"

"Pit was dying. Palutena and Viridi guided me to this region of the Underworld to find the Rewind Spring, a place that could reverse the effects of aging and time. If we got Pit there, we could heal him."

"Why would you do that? I thought you hated Pit after what happened with Lilia."

Magnus and Gaol were now listening in earnest, as this was something that they had never heard. However, they didn't want Dark Pit to shut everyone out, so they did not raise their voices.

"The war happened before Lilia. Though I didn't care for Pit at the time, I did owe my life to him. My near-death was the reason that Pit was dying at that moment."

Dark Pit fell silent again. Aria decided to press into a new vein of information. "Is this part of the reason that you grew to hate him?"

Dark Pit thought on the question for the longest time. Was that part of the reason that he had grown to hate Pit? It made sense. He hated feeling like he owed anyone anything. He was helpless in the moment that the Chaos Kin attacked him, and his helplessness nearly cost his good-natured counterpart everything. Dark Pit, though he had saved Pit's life in return, had never truly gotten over that feeling of helplessness, and was jealous that Pit could be so selfless towards one who was too weak to deserve that kind of help. That jealousy, Dark Pit realized, was the seed of his eventual hatred. Lilia's death only watered what was already there.

"I suppose it is," he answered simply, at last. Though his answer was simple, he knew that it spoke volumes of who he was to Aria. "I never knew that I was capable of being so selfish. But, I am the antithesis of Pit after all. If he is unerringly selfless, then the opposite must be my nature."

"Hey!" Aria barked, not caring that Magnus and Gaol were intruding on that fairly intimate conversation. "I thought that we agreed to get past all that. You are who you want to be, not who you were born as."

Dark Pit was silent once again. Aria was right. He needed to get himself out of the past and start looking towards the future. It was amazing that such character development could come from him on the eve of what would likely be his death. Dark Pit supposed that the old idea was true after all. One revealed who they truly were on the eve of death. Dark Pit found that, despite his problems, he liked the person who would be staring at him from the mirror.

Dark Pit looked to Magnus and Gaol, knowing that they were morbidly curious as to what he was talking about. They'd heard bits and pieces of his story, to be sure, but they had not heard the entire thing.

"Do you want to know exactly what has happened in your absence?"

Magnus and Gaol both nodded the affirmative. So, for the next half of an hour, when they weren't fighting off Underworld monsters, Dark Pit explained everything. He told them about the budding relationship between himself and Aria. He told them about the blank spot in his memory, confirming the suspicions that Magnus had had so long before. Lastly, Dark Pit told them about Lilia, and how she had died.

Everything clicked for the warrior and his wife. All the tension that they had endured until the split suddenly made sense. They fully understood Dark Pit's hatred of Pit, and why his actions had been so irrational. They didn't approve of the dark angel's actions at all, but now they finally understood them.

Slowly, they were becoming a team once more. That was a good thing, as their destination was coming extremely close.

"It's very close," Aria stated after her latest foray into her mystical senses.

"Are you certain?" Dark Pit asked.

Aria nodded the affirmative. Dark Pit held his sword at the ready. Magnus hefted his blade from its resting place on his shoulder and took a battle-ready stance. Gaol summoned energy from her armor. They approached the next corner with such caution that nothing would surprise them. At least, that's what they felt.

Then they saw the fortress. The thinness of attacks thus far suddenly made sense. All of the monsters were gathered in the courtyard. There were all kinds of monsters. Large, small, weak, strong, they were all there. The reapers were the command in that area, and there were literally dozens of them.

As the group crouched behind the rock, Magnus simply stated, "Yeah, the front door is not an option."

"What gave you that idea, genius?" Gaol asked him.

"I think it was the reapers," Dark Pit stated, looking out from their hiding spot. "This is not going to be easy. As far as I can see, this valley is the only way in."

"And a frontal assault would be suicide," Aria added.

"No kidding," Magnus added. "Now what?"

"Dark Pit," Gaol said. "Could you use your flight to get us into the mountains around the castle? We could just drop into the back that way."

"That won't work," the dark angel replied. "Not only would the spectacle be too much, I don't have the power to airlift all three of you. It just wouldn't work."

"Agreed," Magnus said.

"How many of them do you think the Dark Triad special attack would take out?" Aria asked.

"A lot," Gaol replied. "But not enough. There are so many strong enemies guarding that entrance that a fair number of them would easily survive. Plus, that kind of blast would attract the attention of every monster within ten miles of here. We'd lose more than we'd gain."

And so, they were back to square one, with absolutely no idea on how to get into what appeared to be an impregnable fortress. There had to be something. Dark Pit looked at the black glove on his right hand. The amount of attack power it wielded was enormous. Perhaps, if he could harness that somehow…

Then it hit him.

"I know how we'll do this." He explained his hare-brained idea to the rest of the group.

"Sounds like a terrible idea if you ask me," Magnus stated.

"True," Gaol agreed, "but it's the best bad idea we've had so far."

"It's extremely risky though," Magnus continued. "The only person who won't be expending a huge amount of energy is Aria. If this blast takes out the frontal group, how will we have the strength to deal with what's inside?"

"It is a gamble, to be certain," Aria agreed. "But let's not forget that, though I am the weakest of us four, I am still a capable fighter."

"That you are," Dark Pit chimed in. After a brief silence had passed, Dark Pit spoke once again. "So, do we go with my plan, or sit here and try to come up with a better one?"

They all agreed to try Dark Pit's impossible plan. It was the best chance they had, but it was still a very bad idea. The group retreated a ways down the path, each mentally preparing for what they would have to do.

When they felt that they were a safe distance away, they stopped. Aria summoned her round shield from the Silver Fist, and faced it towards Magnus and Gaol. The married warriors then took turns attacking it with some of the most powerful attacks that they each could muster. Soon, Aria's left fist was glowing from all of the energy that it absorbed.

Dark Pit connected his mind to the energy field of the Obsidian Fist. He strode towards Aria and clasped her left hand with his right. All the energy that Aria had absorbed flowed into him through the connection made by the two Fists. Dark Pit felt like his body was going to explode from all the energy flowing into it. But he knew that he needed it in order for his plan to work.

Aria and Gaol backed off, each of them leveling an energy attack at Magnus, who was ready to absorb it. Magnus caught the blast from Gaol's armor a split second before the charged shot from Aria's Palutena bow. He turned and swung the ball at Dark Pit, his sword amplifying the energy to twice what it had been before.

Dark Pit allowed the purple energy of his flight to seep into his wings as he caught the blast on his own blade. He used some of the energy he had taken from Aria to hold the ball there, keeping it from exploding while he flew towards the fortress's courtyard.

As the courtyard came into sight, all the monsters looked at him as if he were crazy. Secretly, Dark Pit felt that he really was crazy. But he ignored that as he funneled all of the energy he had into the single most massive special attack that he had ever fired. The blast was blinding and all consuming, combining energy from every weapon that his sword had absorbed. Dark Pit couldn't even make out all of the different energies that were released in that blast.

When the smoke cleared, only a few of the reapers and a clubberskull were still standing. All of the weaker monsters had perished in the blast. The ones that did survive were heavily weakened by the blast. Unfortunately, so was Dark Pit.

As he landed, the rest of his team filed in behind him. The reapers, three in total, and the clubberskull took an opposing formation in the courtyard. After a long stare-down, the two groups charged at each other.

Dark Pit chose to engage the Clubberskull, knowing that it was the most dangerous enemy there. He leapt over its head and fired golden blasts into its back. The creature turned, outraged at being hit by the small, black annoyance. The monster swung its huge feet forward, and Dark Pit barely rolled out of the way in time to avoid being crushed. The force of the impacts, however, threw his roll off, and he landed on his back.

When he picked his head up, the clubberskull was coming at him in a spin. Dark Pit stood, but was unable to dodge this time around. The monster hit him full in the gut, sending him flying into a dark stone wall. As he came down, Dark Pit focused the flames from the Burning Palm and the greenish energy from the Gaol Blade together. The resulting fire hit the monster in the bulbous head. It roared and charged Dark Pit, who continued to unleash the power of his improvised blast. When the clubberskull had come close enough, Dark Pit jumped over its head, slashing at it at the height of his jump.

The slash worked very effectively. The monster, weakened from the special attack and Dark Pit's bombardment, collapsed. The cut was the straw that broke the camel's back. Dark Pit looked at his partners and saw that leaving them to deal with the reapers was, in fact, a smart move. The team had proven itself valiantly against the crazed soul carriers. Dark Pit walked over to his team and, together, they prepared to face the fortress.

**A/N: Phew, I had more to say than usual there. True, it's not my longest chapter, but still, it was long. Well, long compared to my usual work. I have seen plenty of fanfiction with chapters that dwarf mine. Anyway, I'm getting off-track. I want to thank all of my readers for sticking with this story for so long. It's almost over, I assure. RonnyBravo and I are planning to have up to chapter 50 and an epilogue. Again, thank you for reading and please review. RonnyBravo should be posting the corresponding chapter in Somewhat Staff fairly soon, for those of you who are actually reading both stories side by side (as they are meant to be read).**


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